2019/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

2019/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviewer: Hannah Chatfield, Article: Maria Dalby
Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) remains the standard of care option for those patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who are eligible for and able to tolerate it. However, consolidation and/or maintenance therapies are required to ensure maximum benefit of the initial therapy and to maintain disease control for as long as possible.

2019/05/01MEDICAL UPDATE

2019/04/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Translational research is playing an increasingly vital role for bridging the gap between, on the one hand, basic science and on the other, clinical studies and routine clinical practice. Among the findings presented in a digital oral presentation session at ECCO 2019 were new insights into the mechanism of action of vedolizumab and potential new therapeutic targets for treating fibrosis and strictures in IBD...

2019/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Metabolic interactions between the gut microbiome and its human host are thought to play a key role in the development of IBD and may hold the key to finding new disease markers and targets for intervention.

2019/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

The first-ever head-to-head comparative trial of two biological therapies in IBD indicates that UC patients treated with vedolizumab are significantly more likely to achieve remission than with adalimumab. More head-to-head trials are due to be completed shortly and the results are expected to be as important for clinical practice as the SONIC, CALM and NOR-SWITCH studies.

2019/03/11MEDICAL UPDATE

The sessions at ECCO 2019 were packed full of interesting data highlights and hot topics relevant to the treatment of IBD. In the video above, Professor Stefan Schreiber (Germany), Professor David Rubin (USA), Dr Filip Baert (Belgium) and Professor William Sandborn (USA) discuss their highlights from the meeting including the long-awaited head to head VARSITY study comparing adalimumab with vedolizumab and the maintenance data from the UNIFI study for ustekinumab.

2019/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a heterogeneous group of lymphoid malignancies that often fails to respond to standard of care treatment,1-3 and the need for new therapies is therefore urgent...

2019/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Tom Collins (author) and Hannah Chatfield (interview)
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common form of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas1 and although rarely curable, a number of treatment options exist. In an education session on current and emerging options for the treatment of FL, respectively, presentations focused on data supporting rituximab as single-agent or in combination with chemotherapy and as maintenance therapy in newly-diagnosed FL, and chemotherapy-free regimens and novel immunotherapy approaches in relapsed FL...

2019/02/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Tom Collins (article) and Hannah Chatfield (interview)
The use of CAR T-cell therapy in lymphomas represents a very novel and fast-moving area of research with continuous preclinical and clinical advances...

2018/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/12/05MEDICAL UPDATE

As survival with frontline chemotherapy has steadily improved for patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma several studies have looked at how far short- and long-term toxicity can be reduced without loss of effect. Experts presented updates on three of the landmark studies …

2018/11/01MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviewer Esther Drain
Creative approaches that can be used to keep control of oligometastic disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer were discussed here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interview by Esther Drain
Talk of progress in cancer treatment can ring hollow if the new, life-lengthening therapies are not widely available, the president-elect of the European Society of Medical Oncology said here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interview by Esther Drain
Patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer taking durvalumab had significantly better overall survival than those on placebo after standard chemotherapy and radiation, according to the latest results of the phase III PACIFIC trial presented here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviews by Esther Drain
The ALK- and ROS1-inhibitor brigatinib showed a better progression-free survival (PFS) compared to the ALK-inhibitor crizotinib in the first interim analysis of a head-to-head trial in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who hadn’t yet received an ALK-inhibitor, researchers said here in the Plenary at the IASLC 19th World Congress on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviewer Esther Drain
A randomised, controlled screening trial for lung cancer involving almost 16,000 people in the Netherlands and Belgium found that CT screening produced a 26% reduction in lung cancer deaths among at-risk men over 10 years, according to data presented here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviewer: Esther Drain
The IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) was full of highlights, including 3 plenary abstracts being presented in the New England Journal of Medicine and involvement from patients and patient advocates. Watch the montage of comments from delegates to get an idea of the excitement generated here in Toronto.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby
Inflammatory bowel disease can have a detrimental impact of health-related quality of life, and reducing the physical and psychological disease burden is an important therapeutic target. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly captured in clinical trials and disease registers and can provide insight into the day-to-day impact of IBD on patients’ lives. PROs and quality of life measures can be captured in real time via online and mobile platforms, to improve disease control and quality of care.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Hannah Chatfield
To have a chance of preventing IBD clinicians need to be able to predict who is at risk, based on sensitive and selective risk factors. In a translational symposium at DDW 2018, speakers discussed the role of genetics, diet and environment in IBD aetiology.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Hannah Chatfield
IBD specialists have more treatment options than ever before; yet the optimal use of many agents, old as well as new, remains to be defined. A plenary session at DDW 2018 entitled “It’s still a free country: choice in IBD management” aimed to highlight the wide choice available to clinicians and patients.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby
Perianal fistulas remain a debilitating complication for CD patients, with high levels of morbidity and impact on quality of life. Several abstracts and posters at DDW 2018 addressed the clinical management of perianal fistulas in CD.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/08/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Professor John Lafrate (Harvard Medical School, Boston) and Professor Frank Detterbeck (Yale School of Medicine, New Haven) spoke in a session looking at some of the difficulties with diagnosis and management of synchronous primary lung cancers, especially as there is little research or guidelines to guide best practice.

2018/08/20MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/08/20MEDICAL UPDATE

June 2018 saw the launch of our first edition of LungCancer.Med, a new congress news e-journal containing interviews with speakers and delegates as well as articles on the latest hot topics in lung cancer.

2018/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

A retrospective study of outpatient records for millions of patients in the UK reveals that the overuse of broad-spectrum alternative antibiotics among patients who are probably not allergic to penicillin has increased risks of spreading in the general population MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).
The findings were published online on June 27, 2018 in The BMJ/The British Medical Journal.

2018/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

In addition to clinical segmentation of MM patients as young or elderly and fit or frail, genetic factors convey important prognostic information and should be taken into account in risk assessments and treatment decisions, in the same way as in other haematological malignancies such as AML. Professor Faith Davies from UAMS opened an educational session at EHA 2018 in Stockholm with an overview of the clinical impact of molecular subgroups, molecular risk and clonal heterogeneity in MM.

2018/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with moderate-to-severe uncontrolled asthma treated with the ezcema drug dupilumab have achieved significantly lower rates of severe asthma exacerbation than those using a placebo.
Researchers reported this finding on May 20 at the 2018 American Thoracic Society Conference. Their study was published online on May 21 in NEJM/The New England Journal of Medicine.

2018/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

(Author: Maria Dalby; Interviewer: Esther Drain)
Professor Paul Richardson (Boston, USA) presented the results of the OPTIMISMM study which compared the efficacy of pomalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone (PVd) with bortezombib and dexamethasone alone (Vd) in MM patients with 1-3 prior lines of therapy and a minimum of two cycles of lenalidomide treatment.

2018/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

(Author: Maria Dalby; Interviewer: Esther Drain)
The pathophysiology of MM is characterised by a state of profound immunosuppression through multiple mechanisms which provides a strong rationale for immunotherapeutic approaches including antibodies, immunomodulators, vaccines and adoptive cellular therapies. In an educational session at EHA 2018 Dr Niels van de Donk from Amsterdam outlined the importance of immunotherapy in the treatment of MM now and in the future, focussing especially the role of antibody combinations in the upfront setting and the promise of CAR-T cell therapy.

2018/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

(Author: Maria Dalby; Interviewer: Esther Drain)
When treating patients with MM frail patients are less able to tolerate aggressive treatment and therefore have poorer OS. In the era of novel agents there is a medical need for maximising tolerability and optimising efficacy in elderly patients by individualising therapy based on fitness rather than chronological age. Professor Sonja Zweegman from Amsterdam hosted a Meet the Expert session at EHA 2018 which highlighted some of the challenges around detecting and assessing frailty and adapting therapy so that frail patients can achieve the best possible outcome.

2018/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

(Author: Maria Dalby; Interviewer: Esther Drain)
The growing number of novel treatments for multiple myeloma (MM) means that more patients can achieve the therapeutic goal of a deep and prolonged first remission – in some cases even to the extent that it can be described as a cure. However, optimisation of second-line therapy and beyond continues to challenge clinicians in the novel therapy era. In his presentation at a Scientific Working Group session at EHA 2018, Professor Hartmut Goldschmidt from Heidelberg in Germany reviewed strategies for treating MM patients who are eligible and ineligible for stem cell transplantation, respectively.

2018/06/21MEDICAL UPDATE

By Christine Clark (article) and Hannah Chatfield (interviews)
Managing Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients can be challenging, given that trial data do not reflect the picture in elderly patients and performance status can vary widely. The absence of clinical trials in this group of patients represents a major unmet need ……

2018/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

By Christine Clark (article) and Hannah Chatfield (interview)
Gene expression profiling has shown that that the activated B-cell and germinal centre B-cell subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are driven by different oncogenic pathways and this may provide options for targeted treatment in future…

2018/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviews by Esther Drain & Hannah Chatfield
In the video, Dr Cathy Burton (Leeds), Dr Stella Bowcock (London) and Dr Stephen Robinson (Bristol) give their highlights from this year’s BSH meeting, including the Lymphoma Specialist Interest Group (SIG) which held a session at the meeting, and the debate on the CAR-T cells for the treatment of relapsed high-grade B-cell lymphoma.

2018/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Author: Christine Clark
The launch of biosimilar rituximab provided an opportunity to save £300,000 per year but called for time-consuming intravenous administration that exceeded the capacity of the hospital unit. Off-site treatment units seemed to be the solution…

2018/05/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Christine Clark (article) and Alex Burton (interviews)
Is CAR-T cell therapy a realistic treatment option for patients with large B cell lymphoma who otherwise have no curative options or an expensive new treatment that is complex to administer and offers little outcome advantage?...

2018/05/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Christine Clark (article) and Alex Burton (interviews)
Cancer drugs receive special funding in the NHS but it is not automatic and input from expert clinicians is essential to ensure that effective treatments are funded appropriately. The recent example of brentuximab vedotin in transplant-naïve patients illustrates the process and underlines the importance of clinician input...

2018/05/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Dendritic cells (DC) are known to play an important role in the initiation of primary immune responses. In cancer, deficient DCs contribute to tumour-associated immune tolerance. Functionally active DCs can be grown ex vivo from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence of cytokines and can be made to carry tumour antigens to stimulate an anti-tumour response…

2018/05/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Dr Martin Kaiser (London) discusses recent work from the UK on identifying robust markers and how clinical decisions can be made according to the biology of the disease.
Advances in the management of multiple myeloma (MM) in recent years have drastically improved survival compared with 40-50 years ago. However, unlike other haematological cancers such as HL and DLBCL, MM remains incurable with a high likelihood of relapse and death...

2018/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester
Researchers from a retrospective, observational study report that victims of flu or pneumonia have a significantly increased risk of heart attack or stroke in the days after their infection. The findings appeared on March 21, 2018 in the European Respiratory Journal.

2018/04/08MEDICAL UPDATE

By Gary Finnegan
Hepatitis A viruses (HAVs) circulating in an ongoing outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Lombardy region of Italy are predominantly attributable to strains linked to two other recent outbreaks in Europe, according to research presented at The International Liver Congress 2018 in Paris, France.

2018/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (articles) and Peter Mas Mollinedo (interviews)
As a community IBD professionals are well aware of the need to raise the bar in terms of delivering quality care that maintains tight disease control and anticipates the disease course rather than merely react to it.1,2 To have a chance of success, such tight control must be based on hard data from close monitoring of relevant surrogate biomarkers of disease activity and mucosal healing. The recently-published phase-3 multi-centre study CALM is the first to show that dose adjustment of anti-TNF therapy based on clinical symptoms in combination with biomarkers achieves better clinical and endoscopic outcomes in CD than the conventional approach of relying on symptoms alone.3

2018/03/01MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Peter Mas Mollinedo (interviews)
Even with access to more potent and sophisticated drugs than ever before, IBD professionals still have a long way to go in optimising treatment and alleviating the long-term impact of the disease. Patient empowerment and patient-centred care are essential for reducing the burden of IBD; however, to achieve these clinicians must have a clear understanding of patients’ goals and perspectives...

2018/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Esther Drain
There were lots of updates from various studies in myeloma at ASH 2017. Above, Professor Sagar Lonial (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA) discusses data presented showing that combination treatments are more effective than sequenced doublets.
http://vimeo.com/250430254

2018/02/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Esther Drain
The chair of the UK Myeloma Research Alliance, Professor Gordon Cook (Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust) highlights some of the data presented from the UK, including data from the Myeloma XI study which he describes as ‘practice changing’ and ‘puts the UK research programme firmly in the spotlight’.
http://vimeo.com/250631858

2018/02/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviews by Esther Drain
http://vimeo.com/250425526
As usual, there was a lot of new data in at ASH 2017 in myeloma. Above Professor S Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA) gives a great overview of the key messages in early treatment, RRMM, CART therapy and supportive care (the TEAM trial).
Highlights from key trials, ALCYONE and tandem transplant in NDMM are discussed by Professor Faith Davies (UAMS Myeloma Institute, Arkansas, USA) and Dr Rakesh Popat (University College) respectively.

2018/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Peter Mas Mollinedo (interviews)
The current research and development pipeline of novel biologic therapies and small molecule drugs promises improved efficacy and safety in the treatment of IBD in the near future. However, the complexity and heterogeneity of the disease means it is unlikely that one single therapy will meet all clinical needs; instead rational use of combination therapy and multidisciplinary management will provide a bridge to fully personalised therapy...

2018/01/15MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Cure is not simply about having a few patients cured - it's about reliably being able to cure a population with a disease, argues Professor S Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo Clinic, USA). Along with Professor Robert Orlowski (MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA), he discusses whether myeloma is an incurable disease or whether it's just that we don't yet have the right recipe yet.
http://vimeo.com/250425705

2017/10/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby
Effective treatment options for perianal fistulas constitute a major unmet need in Crohn’sdisease (CD). New interventions included a knot-free silicon drain to replace conventional setons, and a circular blade that allows high-precision removal of the fistula epithelium prior to reparative surgery.

2017/10/21MEDICAL UPDATE

[embed]http://vimeo.com/236913268[/embed]
ESCP 2017 delegates give their highlights, plus a report on the ESCP/ECCO symposium on ulcerative colitis and a focus on quality of life for patients with perianal Crohn's disease.

2017/10/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Author: Bruce Sylvester
Patients with persistent symptomatic asthma had fewer asthma exacerbations and improved quality of life when treated with oral azithromycin for 48 weeks, researchers on August 12, 2017 in The Lancet.

2017/10/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Peter Mas Mollinedo (interviews)
The decision to perform a colectomy in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) should not be made lightly. Such a decision should always be made within a multi-disciplinary team setting, and surgery should be considered not only for patients who are refractory to medical therapy or who need surgery, but also for…

2017/10/03MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Peter Mas Mollinedo (interviews)
In an overview of the immunological rationale for, and clinical application of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies, Dr Nick Powell predicted that clinicians treating patients with perianal CD are going to be early uptakers of these therapies as they transition into clinical practice.

2017/09/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Author: Gary Finnegan
A 'brain training' game developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, could help improve the memory of patients in the very earliest stages of dementia, according to a study published in The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

2017/08/17MEDICAL UPDATE

A drug used to prevent epileptic seizures, levetiracetam, shows positive impact on the brain activity of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, researches reported on June 23, 2017 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

2017/08/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Men who have received initial treatment for prostate cancer with abiraterone added to hormone therapy achieved a survival rate 37 per cent higher than those not treated with adjuvant abiraterone, researchers reported on June 3, 2017 at the 2017 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) annual meeting.
The findings were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Professor Nicholas James, chief investigator of the STAMPEDE trial and professor of clinical oncology at the University of Birmingham, UK, said, "These are the most powerful results I've seen from a prostate cancer trial -- it's a once in a career feeling.”
The investigators noted that abiraterone plus prednisolone is already known to improve survival in men with relapsed prostate cancer. “We assessed the effect of this combination in men starting long-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), using a multigroup, multistage trial design,” they said.
The researchers randomized 1,917 subjects in a 1:1 ratio to receive ADT monotherapy or combination therapy with ADT plus abiraterone (1000 mg daily) and prednisolone (5 mg daily).
Median age was 67 years, and the median PSA level was 53 ng per milliliter.
A total of 52% of the subjects had been diagnosed with metastatic disease, 20% had node-positive or node-indeterminate non-metastatic disease, and 28% had node-negative, non-metastatic disease. And 95% had newly diagnosed disease.
Subjects with node-negative, non-metastatic disease received local radiotherapy. Subjects with positive nodes were also encouraged to receive local radiotherapy .
Among subjects with non-metastatic disease with no radiotherapy planned and among subjects with metastatic disease, treatment continued until the appearance of radiologic, clinical, or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression. Otherwise, treatment continued for 2 years or until any type of progression appeared, whichever came first.
The primary endpoint was overall survival. The intermediate primary outcome was failure-free survival, with “treatment failure” defined as radiologic, clinical, or PSA progression or death from prostate cancer.
Median follow-up was 40 months.
The investigators reported 184 deaths in the combination therapy group and 262 deaths in the ADT monotherapy group (P<0.001). There were 248 treatment-failure events in the combination group and 535 in the ADT monotherapy group (P<0.001).
Grade 3 to 5 adverse events occurred in 47% of the patients in the combination group (nine grade 5 events) and in 33% of the patients in the ADT monotherapy group (three grade 5 events).
“Among men with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, ADT plus abiraterone and prednisolone was associated with significantly higher rates of overall and failure-free survival than ADT alone,” The authors concluded.

2017/07/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Even in an era of rapid progress in terms of new agents and treatment approaches, stem cell transplantation (SCT) continues to play a key role in the management of lymphoma. A key challenge for clinicians is to make decisions in a setting where there is a paucity of hard evidence from randomised clinical trials.

2017/07/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Not only is the treatment ‘landscape’ in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) changing rapidly both in the first-line and relapsed/refractory setting, but different interpretations can also be applied to study results to advocate different approaches.

2017/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Men who have received initial treatment for prostate cancer with abiraterone added to hormone therapy achieved a survival rate 37 per cent higher than those not treated with adjuvant abiraterone, researchers reported on June 3, 2017 at the 2017 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) annual meeting.

2017/05/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester
Diet supplementation with vitamin D3 and calcium does not appear to significantly lower risk of cancer in healthy postmenopausal women, researchers reported on March 28, 2017 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.
The new study was double-blind, placebo-controlled, population-based and randomized clinical.

2017/04/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Scientists in Germany have successfully reprogrammed liver cells, turning them into pancreas progenitor cells by altering a single gene.
The team behind the breakthrough, at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), believes the research results should make it feasible to help diabetic patients through cell therapy.

2017/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic, cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is associated with a sudden- onset, profound lack of energy that is not relieved by rest. It is different from the fatigue experienced by healthy people and calls for different remedies …

2017/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Even in the era of novel therapies for newly-diagnosed and relapsed/refractory MM, there is a group of patients for whom the myeloma biology significantly shortens life expectancy. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) may offer a treatment option that has the potential to cure MM...

2017/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Maintenance therapy with lenalidomide can improve PFS in patients with newly-diagnosed MM by almost two years compared with observation alone, in patients of all ages and all risk groups. This key aspect of the Myeloma XI study was …

2017/04/12MEDICAL UPDATE

2017/04/11MEDICAL UPDATE

Dr Peter Irving (London) talks about one of the hot topics for the future -Maximising the bang for your buck in IBD. He highlights the possible benefits of treating to target and what data might be coming out soon to help guide cost effective management of IBD.

2017/04/06MEDICAL UPDATE

High-risk multiple myeloma (MM) continues to pose a challenge to haematologists both in terms of diagnostics and therapy. Opening the UK Myeloma Forum at the 2017 BSH annual meeting, Professor Thierry Facon from Lille in France reviewed the available treatment options from the point of view of patients' transplant eligibility and level of fitness.

2017/03/30MEDICAL UPDATE

An interesting session at ECCO dealt with the patients for whom there is sparce data to guide their treatment - experts in the field gave their guidance to delegates. Professor Jean-Frederic Colombel (New York, USA) comments on his practice in the elderly IBD patient.

2017/03/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Never before in the history of IBD have there been so many promising compounds in the pipeline. In a scientific session dedicated to new compounds, leading investigators discussed recent clinical results and potential place…

2017/03/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Dr Filip Baert (Roeselare, Belgium) gives a summary of his session on trial endpoints vs therapeutic objectives. he also discusses the role of ECCO in improving the data generated in IBD.
Professor David Rubin (Chicago, USA) and Dr Charlie Lees (Edinburgh, UK) give their view on the value of real world data vs trial data
View videos here.

2017/03/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Predicting disease years before diagnosis is a passion for Professor Jean-Frederic Colombel (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, USA). Here he discusses 2 studies presented at ECCO and how far away we are from disease prevention studies.
Video

2017/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Scientists in Sweden are studying whether web-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is ineffective in some people, potentially making patients worse.
The psychologist behind the research say that while many people who suffer from depression and anxiety are helped by seeing a therapist, psychological treatment can have negative side effects, like any intervention.

2017/02/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers who conducted a retrospective analysis of data from over 100,000 surgical cases in one university health system have reported that patients' pain scores improved when physicians administered reduced opioid treatment and increased non-opioid pain treatment.

2017/02/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Dr Andrei Shustov (University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA) summarises the advances in T-Cell lymphoma therapy at ASH 2016, including long term data in PTCL and ALCL.
https://vimeo.com/202022743
Brentuximab vedotin continues to show durable responses in the relapsed setting and as initial therapy in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas according to studies presented here at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology. But PTCL patients who are refractory or suffer early relapse still have a grim prognosis, research shows.

2017/02/06MEDICAL UPDATE

http://vimeo.com/198831229
Professor Sagar Lonial (Emory University School of Medicine), Professor Gareth Morgan (UAMS Myeloma Institute) and Professor Graham Jackson (Newcastle) discuss what 2017 might hold for patients and the management of myeloma and the Chairs of IMW 2017 in Delhi, Dr Noopur Raje and Professor Shaji Kumar, give a flavour of what to expect at the meeting.

2017/01/31MEDICAL UPDATE

New data presented at this year's International Early Psychosis Association (IEPA) meeting in Milan, Italy (20-22 October) adds to accumulating evidence that high-potency cannabis in associated with an increased risk of users becoming dependent on cannabis.
Estimates suggest around 182 million people worldwide use cannabis each year, a number that could rise as legalisation of recreational use and/or medical use increases. Roughly 9% of people who try cannabis will become dependent on it at some point in their lifetime.

2017/01/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan
A nationwide study of head and neck cancers in France has revealed that the true burden of the disease is underestimated by at least one-third, and that head and neck cancers carry a very high risk of secondary primary cancers, according to two presentations at the ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen.

2016/12/19MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester
Duloxetine (Cymbalta ®), a widely-used treatment for depression and anxiety, appears to reduce joint pain in postmenopausal women being treated for early stage breast cancer, researchers reported on Dec. 9, 2016 in a special plenary session at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

2016/11/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark
ISHL 2016
Professor Joseph Connors (Vancouver) speaks about the session at ISHL10 where a world view of the management of Hodgkin lymphoma was discussed.
[embed]https://player.vimeo.com/video/191509966?autoplay=1[/embed]
There are wide variations in the incidence of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and in death rates – even within Europe. The reasons for the disparities include cost, long waits, lack of access to specialist physicians or the latest therapies. A recent global survey showed that only 33% of cases were diagnosed within four weeks of presentation. Globally, 16 frontline therapies are approved, 29 in the relapsed setting, but they are not always funded. For example, brentuximab vedotin (BV) is approved in 29 countries but only funded or reimbursed in 14. All in all, there is much room for improvement, said Andreas Engert (University Hospital of Cologne, Germany).

2016/10/10MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester
There is no relationship between the so-called ‘obesity gene’ (FTO genotype/rs9939609) and the ability to lose weight, researchers reported on Sept. 21, 2016 in the BMJ/British Medical Journal.
Weight loss strategies, “should focus on improving lifestyle behaviours, principally eating patterns and physical activity, since these will be effective in achieving sustained weight loss irrespective of FTO genotype,” the authors concluded.
As background, the authors noted that some experts believe that genes play a significant role in the development of obesity, and others believe that environmental changes are responsible for increasing obesity rates.
The investigators included in the new meta-analysis 8 randomized controlled trials enrolling 9,563 overweight or obese adults, and in which researchers evaluated reduction in body mass index, body weight, or waist circumference by FTO genotype after dietary, physical activity, or drug based interventions.
In the meta-analysis, they found that, “Overall, differential changes in body mass index, body weight, and waist circumference in response to weight loss intervention were not significantly different between FTO genotypes. Sensitivity analyses indicated that differential changes in body mass index, body weight, and waist circumference by FTO genotype did not differ by intervention type, intervention length, ethnicity, sample size, sex, and baseline body mass index and age category.”
In a linked editorial, Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said that the causes of the obesity epidemic are complex, but current evidence does not support an emphasis on gene profiles. She said that, “a rebalancing of research towards whole systems approaches including environmental drivers may be of greater benefit to the population in the long term.”

2016/10/03MEDICAL UPDATE

https://vimeo.com/188277070
Professor Mohamad Mohty (Paris), Professor Sagar Lonial (Atlanta) and Dr Karthik Ramasamy (Oxford) discuss their highlights from The European School of Haematology Congress on Multiple Myeloma this month. This issue covers the growing role of immunotherapy for managing multiple myeloma, which was the subject of one of the special lectures at this meeting, patient/physician partnerships and treatment of the transplant eligible patient.

2016/09/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: A clear trend towards lighter drinking among young people is responsible for reversing years of rising alcohol intake, according to new research. Experts hope this could lead to a long-term reduction in alcohol-related harm, including liver cirrhosis and social problems.

2016/09/02MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: New research from Denmark has identified the gene responsible for one quarter of all familial hypercholesterolemia which causes very high blood cholesterol. Familial hypercholesterolemia is the most common genetic disorder leading to premature death, found in 1 in 200 people.

2016/08/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Eight new medicines have been approved by the European Medicines Agency at its summer meeting. The influential Committee for Medicinal Products for Human use (CHMP) has now approved a total of 45 medicines in 2016.

2016/08/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has restructured its staff in a bid to efficiently deal changing demand. The Agency faces the challenge of keeping up with growing demand without consuming additional resources.

2016/08/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Within hours of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, at least half a dozen countries began to call for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to be moved from London. With a total budget of €324 million and a steady stream of experts travelling back and forth for meetings, housing the agency is a big prize.

2016/08/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Platelet transfusion after acute spontaneous primary intracerebral haemorrhage in people taking antiplatelet therapy appears to be less effective than standard care, researchers reported on June 25, 2016 in The Lancet.

2016/08/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who have received daily treatment with the investigative drug abaloparatide achieved a significantly reduced the risk of new vertebral and non-vertebral fractures compared with placebo, researchers reported in the August 16 issue of JAMA/The Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/08/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Survival was more than 2 years shorter in breast, prostate cancers. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had a 40% to 50% increased mortality risk if they developed breast or prostate cancer, a large, population-based study found.

2016/08/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Parents of children with asthma need ongoing education and guidance on this chronic condition and how to prevent and manage symptoms, but does a written asthma action plan improve outcomes more than ongoing asthma education? Dr. John Kelso explores this question in a recent review published in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology.

2016/08/15MEDICAL UPDATE

100-year-old persons are affected by substantial numbers of illnesses, and the frequency of untreated pain in this cohort is alarming. This is the result reported by Daniela Jopp and colleagues in their evaluation of the findings of the Second Heidelberg Centenarian Study.

2016/08/12MEDICAL UPDATE

New research presented at Euroanaesthesia 2016 (London 27-30 May) shows that patients undergoing breast cancer surgery need less painkilling medication post-surgery if they have anaesthesia that is free of opioid drugs.

2016/08/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Results from a meta-analysis of relevant studies suggest that consumption of unsaturated fats instead of either saturated fats or carbohydrates could help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes.

2016/08/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that bleeding inside the lining of the brain, subarachnoid hemorrhage, happens at a significantly higher rate among smokers, especially female smokers, than among non-smokers. The findings appeared on July 21, 2016 in the journal Stroke.

2016/08/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients who have undergone common surgeries are receiving opioid painkillers at an increasing rate, researchers reported on March 18, 2016 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/08/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: There is no decrease in hospital length of stay among patients hospitalized with acute respiratory failure who have received standardized rehabilitation therapy rather than usual care in the intensive care unit. Researchers reported this finding on June 28, 2016 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/07/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Following a transient ischemic attack (TIA), quick aspirin treatment can significantly reduce the risk of a major stroke in the next few days, researchers reported on May 18, 2016 in The Lancet.

2016/07/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: One dosing with methylene blue appears to increase MRI-based response in brain areas that control short-term memory and attention, researchers reported on June 28 in Radiology. Methylene blue is currently used to treat methemoglobinemia.

2016/07/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Women who suffer migraines appear to have an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes as well as a higher rate of mortality from cardiovascular disease, researchers reported on May 31, 2016 in The BMJ today.

2016/07/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Pioglitazone shows efficacy against the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a chronic liver disease caused by a buildup of fat. Researchers reported this finding on June 21, 2016 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

2016/07/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A single exposure to general anesthesia does not lead to a cognitive risk in healthy children under age three, researchers reported On June 7, 2016 in JAMA/ Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/07/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers have identified an across-the-board cardiovascular benefit for patients treated with a diabetes drug, liraglutide, with decreases reported in overall risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death.

2016/07/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers from a randomized phase III trial report that addition of temozolomide (Temodar) chemotherapy during short-course radiation therapy, followed by monthly maintenance doses of temozolomide, significantly improves survival among elderly patients with glioblastoma, reducing risk of death by 33%.

2016/06/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A follow-up evaluation of subjects from the phase 1b trial (KEYNOTE-001) of newly diagnosed and previously treated patients with advanced melanoma revealed a 40% survival rate three years after initiating pembrolizumab therapy.

2016/06/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Six medicines, including two combination therapies for chronic hepatitis C, have been recommended for approval at the May meeting of the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

2016/06/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Most successful applicants to the EU drug watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, have something in common: they seek scientific advice from the regulator when developing their product.

2016/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Cholesterol levels – the most common risk factor for heart attacks – have decreased in northern Sweden over the last 20 years. Since medication only accounts for a third of the decrease, the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease is largely thanks to changes in lifestyle, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.

2016/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Researchers in Finland have used computer modelling to estimate the true impact of infectious diseases, such as H1N1 (swine flu). Underreporting of cases means traditional surveillance systems miss the vast majority of infections that occur in the population.

2016/06/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Exposing migraine sufferers to a narrow band of green light significantly reduces light sensitivity and can reduce headache severity, according to a new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published in Brain.

2016/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Persistent, very poorly controlled (VPC) disease remains highly prevalent after 10 years of standard treatment among patients with severe or difficult-to-treat asthma, researchers reported on May 14, 2016 at the American Thoracic Society annual meeting.

2016/06/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: During three years following bariatric surgery, a majority of patients achieved improvement in pain, physical function, and walk time, researchers reported on April 5 2016 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Leading transplant experts say they’ve had a good experience using the once-a-day tacrolimus regimen, reporting better patient adherence compared to the twice-a-day version, along with as-good, or better, graft and patient survival.

2016/06/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Dr Sridhar Chaganti, University Hospital, Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
by Christine Clark: In general the outcomes of treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are good – R-CHOP chemotherapy achieves a 75% cure after two years.

2016/06/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Professor Karl Peggs, University College, London.
by Christine Clark: There are numerous regimens for salvage treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma and all are associated with an overall response rate of 50-80% with a large proportion of complete responses, according to Karl Peggs (Professor of transplant science and cancer immunotherapy, University College, London.

2016/06/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Professor Keith Stewart, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
by Maria Dalby: The dramatic improvement in MM survival in the last 40 years is largely linked to the introduction of the IMiDs, and more recently proteasome inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies.

2016/05/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published a draft version of a new paper on how to extrapolate clinical trial data from adults to children. The framework is designed to facilitate the authorisation of new medicines for children using robust extrapolation techniques.

2016/05/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended the approval of seven new medicines, including one advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP), at its meeting on 29 March-1April.

2016/05/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Researchers have found that in over 3,000 Italian women with dense breasts where standard mammograms had not detected any cancer, the addition of tomosynthesis (a form of 3D mammography) or ultrasound scans picked up an extra 24 tumours.

2016/05/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The Chinese population continues to have a high rate of salt intake, fuelling concerns about rising risks of high blood pressure and stroke. The main culprit, according to a new study, appears to be the growing popularity of processed foods.

2016/05/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Silvio Danese, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital, Milan, Italy.
Article by Maria Dalby - The current paradigm for managing inflammatory conditions is to suppress the inflammatory response by targeting pro-inflammatory mediators.

2016/05/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that Herceptin (trastuzamab) plus lapatinib can shrink breast cancer tumors in less than two weeks. The findings were reported in March at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam.

2016/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: In high income countries, loneliness and social isolation appear to increase the risk of stroke or coronary artery disease by about 30 per cent, researchers reported on April 19, 2016 in the BMJ/British Medical Journal publication Heart.

2016/04/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment with cardioselective beta-blockers appears to reduce the risk of exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and it is especially effective in preventing COPD exacerbations in patients with heart failure, researchers reported on March 12, 2016 at the European Respiratory Society's Lung Science Conference in Estoril, Portugal.

2016/04/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment with clemastine fumarate, an over-the-counter antihistamine used for allergies and the common cold, has partially reversed damage to the visual system in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) researchers from a preliminary study reported online on April 12, 2016, and just prior to its presentation at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting.

2016/04/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients with grade 2 glioma who received radiation therapy plus PCV chemotherapy (procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine) have achieved longer progression-free survival and overall survival than patients who received radiation monotherapy, researchers reported on April 7, 2016 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2016/04/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: For correction of atrial fibrillation, radiofrequency ablation and cryoballoon ablation show similar results for efficacy and safety, researchers reported on April 4, 2016 at the American College of Cardiology 2016 annual meeting.

2016/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: In intermediate-risk patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis, transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) is similar to surgical aortic-valve replacement with respect to death or disabling stroke.

2016/04/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Rhythm control and rate control are similarly effective in treating post-operative atrial fibrillation, researchers reported on April 4, 2016 at the American College of Cardiology 2016 annual meeting.

2016/04/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Rosuvastatin treatment more effectively prevents cardiovascular events than candesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide among subjects who do not have cardiovascular disease and who received cholesterol-lowering treatment.

2016/04/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Nine weekly sessions of individually tailored acupuncture lessen perceived pain intensity, and improve functional capacity and quality of life, in people with the chronic pain condition, fibromyalgia, finds research published online in Acupuncture in Medicine.

2016/03/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that mindfulness meditation can significantly reduce pain but that it does not employ the endogenous opioid system to do so. The findings appeared on March 15 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

2016/03/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that about 10 per cent of patients in intensive care units worldwide have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), that the mortality rate from ARDS remains high and, notably, that ARDS in this setting is both under-recognized and under-treated.

2016/03/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby: Organ donation from children aged less than 2 years is extremely rare in the UK but could offer significant scope for expanding the donor pool. Presenting data from the first UK series of kidney transplants from newborn and infant donors aged less than 2 months, Niaz Ahmad, consultant transplant surgeon at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, explained that small kidneys from neonatal donors work well in adult recipients and that the technical and surgical difficulties can be overcome.

2016/03/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Among adults with chronic sinusitis and nasal polyps who do not respond to intranasal corticosteroids, addition of investigative dupilumab to mometasone furoate nasal spray compared with mometasone alone reduced nasal polyps significantly after 16 weeks. Researchers reported this finding on Feb. 2, 2016 in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2016/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Ivacaftor appears to be safe and efficacious for children ages 2 to and 5 with a specific type of cystic fibrosis, researchers reported on Jan. 20,2016 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The findings suggest a therapeutic opening in early life when eventual organ damage from cystic fibrosis might be reduced.

2016/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that corticosteroids treatment of mothers at risk for late preterm delivery significantly reduces the incidence of severe respiratory complications in their babies.

2016/03/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment with the clot-busting drug alteplase appears to be an effective way to decrease mortality in intraventricular hemorrhage, a catastrophic type of bleeding stroke, researchers from the CLEAR III clinical trial reported on Feb. 18, 2016 at the International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles.

2016/02/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Investigators from a phase l/II clinical trial report that high-dose atorvastatin treatment of patients with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) resulted in a regression of lipid deposits and improvement in visual acuity, without progression to advanced disease.

2016/02/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Researchers have developed a new scoring system that rates women’s risk of Caesarean section. The study combines a range of indicators to help maternity hospitals better manage patients and resources, and to prepare pregnant women for the possibility of surgery.

2016/02/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: HIV is easier than ever to prevent, detect and treat. Yet while life expectancy for people with the virus have improved over the past decade, the disease is proving difficult to stamp out and continues to spread in Europe.

2016/02/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Six new medicines, two of which had been fast-tracked, were given positive reviews from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). This clears the way for the final approval by the European Commission.

2016/02/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency has released a revised guideline on medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The publication is part of a public consultation which runs until the end of July.

2016/02/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency has set up a task force on Zika virus in an effort to accelerate the development of new medicines and vaccines against the disease. The group includes experts in infectious disease, vaccines and other specialists with relevant knowledge on the threat of Zika fever.

2016/02/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Results from a meta-analysis of relevant studies suggest that exercise, alone or in combination with education, reduces the risk of low back pain. The findings appeared on Jan. 11, 2016 by JAMA Internal Medicine.

2016/02/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Ozone exposure appears to be associated with acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) in some critically ill patients, according to research published on Dec. 17, 2015 In the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care.

2016/01/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Women with heart failure are as likely as men to achieve survival benefit from receiving an implantable cardiac defibrillator, researchers reported on Jan. 12,2016 in Circulation: Heart Failure.

2016/01/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: In early results, patients newly diagnosed with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) treated with the HDAC-inhibitor belinostat, and CHOP therapy, tolerated the combination well at standard doses, researchers found in a phase 1 dose-escalation study.1

2016/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: There could be a role for consolidation autologous stem cell transplantation for patients with diffuse, aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) who are at high risk of disease progression, an expert said here at ASH.

2016/01/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: A subgroup analysis of data from the ENDEAVOR trial, comparing carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) to bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) — shows improved progression-free survival (PFS) on Kd, whether patients had been treated with just one prior line of therapy or with two or more.

2016/01/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Fresh off its approval in the U.S. in the relapsed/refractory setting of multiple myeloma, ixazomib continues to be examined in other patient pools, with results that are encouraging but still unfolding, according to data presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology.

2016/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Trials are continuing to explore potential new settings for daratumumab and elotuzumab, two monoclonal antibodies that were recently approved for use in multiple myeloma (MM) in the U.S. New data was presented here at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology.

2016/01/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Results from a meta-analysis of randomized trials for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke suggest that, compared to standard clot dissolving treatment, endovascular intervention, such as clot removal by catheter, produced better functional outcomes and higher rates of functional independence at 90 days.

2016/01/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: No matter what their blood pressure is at the beginning of treatment, blood pressure-lowering drugs should be offered to all persons at high risk of having a heart attack or stroke, researchers from a new meta-analysis of relevant trials reported on Dec. 23, 2015 in The Lancet.

2016/01/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, significantly lowers the risk of common, non-melanoma skin cancer in high-risk patients, researchers reported on Oct. 21, 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2016/01/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment with sildenafil, marketed as Viagra and other trade names, appears to improve insulin sensitivity in persons with prediabetes, as well as lowering a biological signal of elevated risk of kidney and heart disease.

2015/12/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Researchers have developed a prognostic “score” to gauge the chances of progression-free survival in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma who have had a successful autologous stem cell transplant.

2015/12/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Anastrozole appears to be as effective as tamoxifen in treating ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a very early form of breast cancer, and could offer a new treatment option for post-menopausal women. Approximately one-fifth of all screen-detected breast cancers are DCIS.

2015/12/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Ten medicines, including a first-in-class orphan medicine for narcolepsy, were recommended for authorisation in the EU at the latest meeting of the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

2015/12/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Professor Guido Rasi has been reappointed Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency for a five-year term. The decision brings an end to one of the more complex and controversial recruitment processes in EU history.

2015/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) says its powers are limited when it comes to regulating off-label use of licensed medicines. The watchdog is at the centre of a long-running row that has come to a head in Italy after a series of adverse events in patients given a cancer drug to treat an eye condition.

2015/12/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Twenty-five years after reunification, the once considerable differences between life expectancy in eastern and western Germany have nearly disappeared for women. East German men have also benefited strongly from unification, but they still lag behind western men.

2015/12/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Researchers in Denmark have found a small but significant increase in the risk of developing epilepsy among children who had hospital-diagnosed pertussis infections. While the absolute risk is low, it is the first time the two diseases have been linked in this way.

2015/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Emergency room patients who report acute, lower back pain do not appear to benefit from adding either oxycodone/acetaminophen or the muscle relaxant cyclobenzaprine to naproxen monotherapy, researchers reported in the October 20 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/12/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Surgical resection is a safe and helpful treatment option for a broad range of patients with early-stage lung cancer, researchers reported online on Nov. 10, 2015 in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

2015/12/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Diabetes-related amputations have declined significantly since the mid-1990s, researchers reported in November, 2015 in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

2015/12/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: While heart disease and stroke are the greatest killers of women in the U.S., most women there claim to have no personal connection to cardiovascular disease, researchers reported on Nov. 8, 2015 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2015.

2015/12/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) closure patients treated with clopidogrel and aspirin instead of aspirin alone have achieved a lower monthly frequency of migraine attacks, researchers reported on Nov. 9, 2015 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015. The study was published simultaneously in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/12/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Among patients with peripheral artery disease and intermittent claudication, treatment with endovascular revascularization followed by supervised exercise led to greater improvement in walking distances and health-related quality-of-life at one year than supervised exercise alone.

2015/11/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby: Accurate diagnosis and monitoring are key elements in the prevention of long-term complications of Crohn’s disease including stenosis, strictures and perforation. Rising Star award winner Dr Ingrid Ordas from Barcelona opened a symposium on this topic with a discussion of the role of magnetic resonance (MR) enterography for non-invasive morphological assessment of disease activity and severity in CD.

2015/11/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby: Advances in diagnostic techniques, genetic testing and immunosuppressive protocols allow clinicians to tailor interventions to the individual patient’s needs to a greater extent than in past years.

2015/11/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Multiple myeloma is unique amongst cancers in that the diagnosis is made by the clinician, not the pathologist. The pathologist merely states that the patient has a clonal plasma cell disorder; it is then up to the clinician to evaluate the clinical features to confirm the MM diagnosis and assess the risk of progression.

2015/11/02MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Blood pressure drug dosing at bedtime instead of in the morning not only lowers blood pressure during sleep but significantly reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes onset, researchers reported on September 23, 2015 in Diabetologia.

2015/10/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Exercise prior to pregnancy appears to reduce pelvic girdle pain caused by joint and ligament changes during pregnancy, researchers reported online on October 7, 2015 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a British Medical Journal publication.

2015/10/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that a genetically engineered vaccine, VGX-3100/ Inovio Pharmaceuticals, appears to eradicate high-grade precancerous cervical lesions in some women. The findings from a phase 2b trial were published online on Sept. 17, 2015 in The Lancet.

2015/10/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Men who have had a heart attack and then receive androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer are at an increased risk of subsequent fatal heart attack, researchers reported in a research letter in the September 22/29, 2015 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

2015/10/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Ireland: Medicines routinely prescribed for older patients may be contributing to elevated rates of falls in elderly men, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

2015/10/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Norway: Eleven percent of all births worldwide are preterm, or occurring before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature birth is associated with higher neonatal mortality as well as long-term neurological disabilities.

2015/10/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Netherlands: Women with breast cancer who follow a physical exercise programme during their chemotherapy treatment experience fewer side effects, according a study by the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI).

2015/10/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The chair of the European Medicine Agency's most influential committee has been re-elected for a three-year term. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) voted to give Dr Tomas Salmonson a fresh mandate at its September meeting.

2015/10/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency's key committee approved a total of 19 new medicines at its meeting in late September – the highest number of products to get the green light this year. This brings the total number of approvals by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to 74.

2015/10/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Early intervention facilitated by a digital health application for reporting symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) provides key benefits for patients, according to the results of a Temple-led, two-year clinical study.

2015/10/07MEDICAL UPDATE

A study published in Nature by Jos Lelieveld and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, in Mainz, Germany, found that although air pollution has several causes, residential energy emissions -- such as those from heating and cooling -- are a major contributor to premature mortality.

2015/10/06MEDICAL UPDATE

In one of the largest population studies on pain to date, researchers with the National Institutes of Health estimate that nearly 40 million Americans experience severe pain and more than 25 million have pain every day.

2015/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Firmagon (Degarelix) is a competitive, reversible GnRH receptor blocker, for patients with advanced hormone-dependent prostate cancer. Where Injection technique is critical; Nora Sullivan, a specialist nurse at Hibernian Healthcare, explains that very slow injection (over two or even two and a half minutes) is the key to minimising the risk of injection site reactions.

2015/10/01MEDICAL UPDATE

Dynamic leg muscle power is an independent determinant of pain and quality of life in knee osteoarthritis (OA), and it appears to outperform muscle strength as a measure of muscle performance, according to researchers from Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center, Boston.

2015/09/29MEDICAL UPDATE

A recent review found that most newborns that are included in control groups during clinical trials concerning minor painful procedures are denied analgesia, despite international guidelines stating that babies should be prevented from experiencing any avoidable pain.

2015/09/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Hypertensive patients have achieved a modest but therapeutic and durable response to acupuncture treatment, researchers from the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California in Irvine reported on August 19, 2015 in Medical Acupuncture.

2015/09/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Annual 10% tobacco tax increases in New Zealand over the next 20 years should lead to health gains, net health system cost savings and modest reductions of about 2% to 3% in health inequalities between indigenous (Māori) and non-indigenous people, according to a study published by Tony Blakely and colleagues from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in this week's PLOS Medicine.

2015/09/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Home births lead to higher infant mortality than hospital births, at least for mothers living in poorer areas, according to a new Dutch study which is likely to spark debate on a topic of considerable controversy.

2015/09/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Preliminary findings presented at an international TB vaccine conference suggest older people are contributing to TB rates in China. Researchers say the development and introduction of a 'post-infection' vaccine could have a major impact in reducing TB disease in the world's most populous country.

2015/09/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Persons who work over 55 hours per week have a 33% increased risk of stroke and a 13% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease compared with persons who work 35-40 hours per week, researchers reported on August 19, 2015 in The Lancet.

2015/09/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency wants to get new medicines to patients quicker where there is a clear unmet medical need. The move could also see some medicines given provisional approval while additional evidence is gathered.

2015/08/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency's influential Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given the green light for ten new medicines, as well as offering a positive scientific opinion on the world's first malaria vaccine.

2015/08/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Among patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, chemotherapy with docetaxel at the start of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has resulted in an increased survival of 13.6 months for patients treated with ADT plus docetaxel compared to ADT monotherapy.

2015/08/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment of diabetes with pioglitazone does not appear to be related to an increased risk of bladder cancer, researchers from an analysis including nearly 200,000 subjects reported in the July 21, 2015 issue of JAMA.

2015/08/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A retrospective analysis of data on more than 83,000 US veterans showed that men whose low testosterone was restored to normal achieved a reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause, when compared to similar men who were not treated.

2015/08/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients with depression or anxiety who were prescribed opioids for chronic lower back pain have achieved significantly less pain relief and were more likely to abuse their medication than similar patients without the psychiatric disorders.

2015/07/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers from two newly published studies patients report that patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection and with or without cirrhosis have achieved high rates of sustained virologic response after 12 weeks of treatment with combination daclatasvir, asunaprevir, and beclabuvir.

2015/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

John Ultmann Memorial Lecture / by Maria Dalby. Cutaneous lymphomas are rare conditions that require careful linking of clinical features with pathological findings for accurate diagnoses and effective treatments. Professor of dermatology Rein Willemze from Leiden in the Netherlands is fascinated by the challenges presented by cutaneous lymphoma in its many and varied forms in the clinic; as John Ultmann memorial lecturer at the ICML, Professor Willemze described how the classification of cutaneous lymphomas has changed over the last few decades and the ways patients have benefited from this.

2015/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Steven H Swerdlow, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA, / by Maria Dalby. Knowledge is evolving fast in the field of lymphoma and the 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of malignant lymphomas, 4th edition (which was a revision of the very first classification published in 2001) is in need of updating. Dr Steven Swerdlow from Pittsburgh was one of the editors on the 2008 edition and is on the editorial team for the new revision; in a special lecture in a joint American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-ICML session, Dr Swerdlow apprised ICML delegates of where the process has got to and gave a flavour of what changes can be expected in the new revision.

2015/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Persons with high rates of diabetes-related complications appear to be more likely to develop dementia as they get older than persons with fewer diabetes-related complications, South Korean researchers reported on July 9, 2015 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

2015/07/27MEDICAL UPDATE

New research reveals that it only takes two weeks of not using their legs for young people to lose a third of their muscular strength, leaving them on par with a person who is 40-50 years their senior. The Center for Healthy Aging and the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen conducted the research.

2015/07/24MEDICAL UPDATE

The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015) demonstrated the value of a new interactive iPad app that helps young people with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) describe their pain.

2015/07/23MEDICAL UPDATE

The acidity of urine -- as well as the presence of small molecules related to diet -- may influence how well bacteria can grow in the urinary tract, a new study shows. The research, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, may have implications for treating urinary tract infections, which are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide.

2015/07/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Schizophrenia, which affects 2 million to 3 million people in the U.S., causes hallucinations, delusions and disorganization. Left untreated, the disease can cause a significant loss in quality of life, including unemployment and estrangement from loved ones.

2015/07/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Daily bathing of pediatric patients with disposable cloths containing 2 percent chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) reduced central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) by 59 percent and saved approximately $300,000 in one hospital over a six-month period, according to a new study.

2015/07/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Longer secondary schooling substantially reduces the risk of HIV infection--especially for girls--and could be a very cost-effective way to halt the spread of the virus, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In a study in Botswana, researchers found that, for each additional year of secondary school, students lowered their risk of HIV infection by 8 percentage points about a decade later, from 25% to about 17% infected.

2015/07/16MEDICAL UPDATE

A technique to increase the flow of blood from the umbilical cord into the infant's circulatory system improves blood pressure and red blood cell levels in preterm infants delivered by Cesarean section, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

2015/07/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Scientists at Newcastle University have documented for the first time the DNA damage which can occur to skin across the full range of ultraviolet radiation from the sun providing an invaluable tool for sun-protection and the manufacturers of sunscreen.

2015/07/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Menopausal women having difficulty with time management, attention, organization, memory, and problem solving (also known as “executive functions”) appear to benefit from treatment with lisdexamfetamine, a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

2015/07/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A study of the protective effect of heart medications that patients receive before coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery suggests that statins reduce the risk of death by 67 percent, while no consistent prophylactic effects appeared for other medications.

2015/07/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Rociletinib, an investigative therapy for treatment resistant EGFR-mutation driven lung tumors, shows activity against the most common resistance mutation, and it significantly improves clinical outcomes.

2015/07/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: People with terminal cancer often require palliative care in the late stages of their lives. This branch of medicine has long been lauded for the compassion and humanity it provides to patients and their families during a difficult time.

2015/06/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Rapid weight loss can lead to a loss of bone mass and an increased risk of bone fractures. A study by University of Copenhagen, Hvidovre and Glostrup Hospital, suggests a new obesity treatment could help patients to lose weight without jeopardising bone health.

2015/06/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Keytruda (pembrolizumab) has been recommended by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with advanced melanoma that cannot be surgically removed or where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

2015/06/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Weakening grip strength is associated with increasing overall mortality and with increasing risk of heart attack or stroke, researchers from a large international study reported on May 13, 2015 in The Lancet.

2015/06/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Older adults who use cholesterol-lowering statins or fibrates have one third less risk of stroke than their untreated counterparts, researchers reported on May 19, 2015 in The British Medical Journal/BMJ.

2015/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Investigators from the phase III PALOMA-3 trial report that treatment with the recently FDA-approved drug palbociclib more than doubled the time to cancer recurrence among subjects with hormone-receptor (HR+) positive metastatic breast cancer.

2015/06/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment of advanced melanoma with a combination of nivolumab (Opdivo™) and ipilimumab (Yervoy™) or with nivolumab alone increases progression-free survival over ipilimumab monotherapy, researchers reported on May 31, 2015 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting and published online simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

2015/06/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Anastrozole is significantly more effective than tamoxifen in preventing cancer recurrence after lumpectomy and radiation therapy in postmenopausal women, age 60 or younger with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). Also, in women over 60, anastrozole is as effective as tamoxifen.

2015/06/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), an anti-PD-1 antibody immunotherapy has shown efficacy in one fourth of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer, researchers reported on May 29 at the 2015 meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

2015/06/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: In a Phase III trial comparing standard docetaxel chemotherapy with immunotherapy nivolumab, researchers reported that subjects with squamous-non-small cell lung cancer treated with nivolumab lived an average of 3.2 months longer than those receiving the standard chemotherapy.

2015/06/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark: The National Cancer Information Network (NCIN) was established to drive change and improve cancer outcomes. Analyses show large variations in practices and outcomes some of which could be due to poor quality data entry. As commissioners will use NCIN data to determine whether services are fit for purpose this is an important issue. Dr Robin Ireland, described how the network is central to the national cancer improvement strategy.

2015/05/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A retrospective study of US military health system (Tricare) beneficiary medical records suggests that subjects using statin drugs to control cholesterol are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But investigators caution patients not to stop statin therapy solely on the basis of one study.

2015/05/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A short course of oral steroids brought only slight improvement in function and no significant improvement in pain among patients with acute sciatica caused by a herniated lumbar disk (acute radiculopathy), researchers reported on May 19, 2015 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/05/25MEDICAL UPDATE

UNSW Australia researchers have shown that changing just a single letter of the DNA of human red blood cells in the laboratory increases their production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobin - a world-first advance that could lead to a cure for sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders.

2015/05/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers reported on May 20, at American Thoracic Society/ATS 2015 annual meeting in Denver that the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, is an independent risk factor for death from a cardiovascular disease in patients with atrial fibrillation, but it is not independently associated with increase in the risk of stroke or systemic embolism.

2015/05/21MEDICAL UPDATE

In patients with HIV, a diabetes drug may have benefits beyond lowering blood sugar. A new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drug may prevent cardiovascular problems because it works to reduce inflammation linked to heart disease and stroke in these patients.

2015/05/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Research published today in the journal Analyst has demonstrated a new, noninvasive test that can detect cocaine use through a simple fingerprint. For the first time, this new fingerprint method can determine whether cocaine has been ingested, rather than just touched.

2015/05/19MEDICAL UPDATE

While the consequences of osteoporosis are worse in men than women - including death - older males are far less likely to take preventive measures against the potentially devastating bone-thinning disease or accept recommendations for screening, according to startling new research by North Shore-LIJ Health System geriatricians.

2015/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

A faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) not only cured a case of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection in a 66 year old man; it eliminated populations of multi-drug resistant organisms both in the patient's gastrointestinal tract, and several other body sites. This case report is published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.

2015/05/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers suggest that officials re-examine blood storage practice. Infants and children who undergo heart surgery are better off receiving fresh whole blood transfusions from a single donor, compared to receiving component blood from multiple donors, according to new research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

2015/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

New study in Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior validates use of the Vitamin D Calculator app for tracking intake. Vitamin D is essential for the maintenance of bone health and may be implicated in other chronic diseases, as well as immunity, but adults in Canada are consistently deficient in dietary vitamin D, by nearly 400 international units per day (IU/d) on average.

2015/05/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Results highlight importance of pre-test counselling for at-risk patient populations. Some at-risk patients opted out of comprehensive cancer gene screening when presented with the opportunity to be tested for the presence of genes linked to various cancers, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Basser Center for BRCA in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.

2015/05/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Lung cancer patients whose tumors carry specific mutations in the BRAF gene appear to benefit from drugs used to treat melanoma, researchers from the retrospective EURAF cohort study reported on April 17, 2015 at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

2015/05/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Phenytoin, a drug used to prevent seizures in epilepsy, appears to help protect the eyesight of persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers reported this finding in a study presented on April 16, 2015 at the American Academy of Neurology’s 67th Annual Meeting.

2015/04/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Canada could save $7.3 billion annually with universal public coverage of medically necessary prescription drugs, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and University of Toronto, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

2015/04/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Health outcomes for children conceived using assisted reproduction technologies (ART) have improved significantly over the past two decades, according to a Danish-led study. However, the paper adds to existing evidence that transferring a single embryo per cycle is safer than implanting multiple embryos.

2015/04/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that a combination morphine and nortriptyline successfully relieves chronic neuropathic pain in 87 per cent of patients, and the efficacy of the combination is significantly better than either drug used as monotherapy. This research was published on April 7, 2015 in PAIN

2015/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Paracetamol is not effective for treating neck and lower back pain, and it provides only slight relief for osteoarthritis, researchers reported on March 31, 2015 the BMJ/British Medical Journal.

2015/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Slyvester: Among a large group of women who carry disease-associated mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, genetic mutations appear to be associated with significantly different risks of developing breast and ovarian cancers, researchers reported in the April 7 issue of JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/04/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A blood test administered between weeks 10 and 14 weeks of pregnancy appears to be a more accurate diagnostic tool for Down syndrome and two other less common chromosomal abnormalities than standard non-invasive screening techniques, researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine/NEJM on April 1, 2015.

2015/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Diabetes and advanced stage breast cancer appear to be linked and diabetic women need better screening, Canadian researchers reported online on March 24, 2015 in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

2015/04/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Experts are calling for a global review of guidelines used to diagnose sepsis, after a study found one in eight patients with infections severe enough to need admission to an Intensive Care Unit in Australia and New Zealand, did not meet current criteria.

2015/04/10MEDICAL UPDATE

The first blood test for osteoarthritis could soon be developed, thanks to research by the University of Warwick. The research findings could potentially lead to patients being tested for osteoarthritis and diagnosed several years before the onset of physical symptoms.

2015/04/08MEDICAL UPDATE

When a nursing home patient is dying, aggressive interventions such as inserting a feeding tube or sending the patient to the emergency room can futilely exacerbate, rather than relieve, their distress.

2015/04/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Banning sodas from school vending machines, building walking paths and playgrounds, adding supermarkets to food deserts and requiring nutritional labels on restaurant menus: Such changes to the environments where people live and work are among the growing number of solutions that have been proposed and attempted in efforts to stem the rising obesity epidemic with viable, population-based solutions. But which of these changes actually make an impact?

2015/04/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Compared to women who deliver at full-term, women with a history of spontaneous preterm delivery appear to have a doubled risk of developing heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, according to findings published on Feb. 10, 2015 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

2015/04/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that treating post-tonsillectomy pain with morphine can cause some children to develop life-threatening respiratory problems. The study also showed that ibuprofen is a safe and effective alternative to morphine in this clinical circumstance. The finds are published in the Jan. 26 online edition of Pediatrics.

2015/03/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Atrial fibrillation patients treated with digoxin have a 27 percent greater risk of dying than atrial fibrillation patients not treated with the drug, according to a new meta-analysis of 19 studies which included data on over 500,000 subjects.

2015/03/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Among patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation, catheter ablation has led to lower mortality, hospitalization or recurrent atrial fibrillation than treatment with the heart rhythm regulating drug Amiodarone, researchers reported on March 16, 2015 at the American College of Cardiology’s 64th Annual Scientific Session.

2015/03/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients treated for one year with evolocumab, an investigative drug used to lower LDL cholesterol, have achieved significant reductions in mortality, heart attack and stroke, hospitalization for a cardiovascular event and intervention to to open blocked arteries, compared with patients who received standard care.

2015/03/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: The addition of antiplatelet drug ticagrelor to aspirin for long-term post-heart attack therapy has reduced the rate of mortality from subsequent cardiovascular causes, heart attack or stroke.

2015/03/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Although U.S. military veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan are more likely to suffer chronic pain than veterans of any other conflict in American history, little headway has been made in helping them manage the often debilitating effects of chronic pain.

2015/03/19MEDICAL UPDATE

A new poll by the National Sleep Foundation finds that pain is a key factor in the gap between the amount of sleep patients say they need and the amount they're getting - an average 42 minute sleep debt for those with chronic pain and 14 minutes for those who've suffered from acute pain in the past week.

2015/03/18MEDICAL UPDATE

A momentary lapse of concentration is all it takes for a finger to become trapped or sprain an ankle - and it hurts. Pain is the body's protective mechanism and a complex neurological phenomenon. Moreover, ongoing pain in the sense of chronic pain can be a disease.

2015/03/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath are symptoms asthma sufferers are used to. They are also the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For sufferers, as well as physicians, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the two conditions.

2015/03/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Only 16 percent of epinephrine users and 7 percent of inhaler users got it right. Millions of Americans with severe allergies and asthma are prescribed medical devices to help relieve symptoms and sometimes, to treat potentially fatal allergic reactions. Unfortunately, very few people use their prescribed medical devices properly - even if they think they know how.

2015/03/11MEDICAL UPDATE

Asthma symptoms affect millions of patients and are one of the leading causes of work and school absences. People who suffer from asthma know it's a challenge to make sure symptoms are under control at all times. And it's even a challenge to know where to get the best information on how to do that.

2015/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Monoclonal antibodies directed against tumour antigens have proven effective for treating some forms of cancer. Despite the increasing use of monoclonal antibody therapy, it is not clear how these antibodies drive tumour removal.

2015/03/06MEDICAL UPDATE

In a new paper in the journal Infection and Immunity, the researchers lay out for the first time exactly how C. difficile wreaks havoc on the guts of animals in a short time, and causes severe diarrhea and life-threatening disease in humans.

2015/03/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects one out of every 3,000 children in populations of Northern European descent. One of the key signs of cystic fibrosis is that mucus lining the lungs, pancreas and other organs is too sticky, which makes it difficult for the organs to work properly and, in the lungs, attracts bacteria and viruses resulting in chronic infections.

2015/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment with the growth hormone growth factor-1 (IGF-1) significantly improves social impairment associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in patients with a related genetic syndrome, researchers reported on February 19, 2015 in Pub Med, a public database of biomedical topics maintained by the (US) National Institutes of Health. The study was originally published in the December 12, 2014 issue of Molecular Autism.

2015/03/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Results from a French pilot study suggest that gallopamil effectively reduces symptoms in severe asthma. The findings appeared on January 28, 2015 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

2015/02/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Ranibizumab (Lucentis®) therapy appears to have efficacy in reversing diabetes-related vision loss in some populations, researchers reported online on Feb. 19 in the journal Opthalmology.

2015/02/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Even just a few years of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) appears to significantly increase the risk of two forms of ovarian cancer, researchers reported on Feb. 12, 2015 in The Lancet.

2015/02/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Smokers who can’t quit cigarettes in one month can succeed gradually by using the nicotine addiction medication varenicline for 24 weeks, researchers reported on February 17, 2015 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Global progress towards tackling obesity has been "unacceptably slow", with only one in four countries implementing a policy on healthy eating up to 2010, according to a major new six-part Series on obesity, published in The Lancet.

2015/02/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Researchers in Canada have found that the chance having a heart attack or stroke increases significantly if a patient has been hospitalised for pneumonia – even if there is no history of cardiovascular problems.

2015/02/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Could years of diabetes research have been in vain? That is the question occupying scientists after the publication of a new study by researchers in KU Leuven which questions the value of using a special breed of mice in preclinical studies.

2015/02/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: One of the commonly circulating forms of the flu virus, which is particularly common among children, could be eliminated, according to researchers at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore.

2015/02/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: A superbug present in hospitals across Europe and the US can become resistant to treatment even without undergoing genetic changes, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. This could make the standard test of drug-resistant bacteria useless as it relies on detecting DNA mutations.

2015/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The number of new medicines for rare diseases approved by EU drug regulators hit a record high in 2014. Of the 82 medicines given the green light last year, 17 were intended for the treatment of a rare illness.

2015/02/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is to step up international cooperation on regulating generics. The regulator says it is ready to share assessment reports for generic medicines with counterparts outside the EU.

2015/02/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Pain, discomfort and magnet displacement were documented in a small medical records review study of patients with cochlear implants (CIs) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to a report published online by JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

2015/02/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Seven new medicines have approved at the January meeting of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) – the European Medicines Agency's influential evaluation committee.

2015/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Results of treating shoulder pain in throwing athletes are not as predictable as doctors, patients and coaches would like to think, according to a report in the journal Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America.

2015/01/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: About 12 percent of patients treated with aspirin for cardiovascular disease prevention are receiving aspirin inappropriately, researchers reported on Jan, 12, 2015 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2015/01/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients with metastatic melanoma treated with dual sargramostim/ipilimumab rather than ipilimumab alone have achieved longer overall survival and lower toxicity, but no difference in progression-free survival, researchers reported in the November 5, 2014 issue of JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/01/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Onset of diabetes raises the risk of significant memory and cognitive problems during the following 20 years researchers reported in the Dec. 2 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

2015/01/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: In the non-cardiac surgical setting, neither aspirin nor clonidine taken perioperatively appears to reduce the risk of acute kidney injury, researchers reported on Nov. 15, 2014 in JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015/01/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Women using bisphosphonates with nitrogen, which are prescribed for osteoporosis and other bone conditions, appear to have half the risk of developing endometrial cancer compared to women who do not use the treatment.

2015/01/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Internet addiction is an impulse-control problem marked by an inability to inhibit Internet use, which can adversely affect a person's life, including their health and interpersonal relationships. The prevalence of Internet addiction varies among regions around the world, as shown by data from more than 89,000 individuals in 31 countries.

2015/01/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Despite global improvements in life expectancy, death rates for some causes -- including drug use and liver cancer -- continue to rise. Global life expectancy increased by 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women between 1990 and 2013, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013).

2015/01/13MEDICAL UPDATE

National Institutes of Health-supported study examines prescribing patterns. Prescription use of benzodiazepines, increases steadily with age, despite the known risks for older people, according to a comprehensive analysis of benzodiazepine prescribing in the United States.

2015/01/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Tracking neutrophil motility patterns could provide early diagnosis of life-threatening condition. A team of investigators has identified what may be a biomarker predicting the development of the dangerous systemic infection sepsis in patients with serious burns.

2015/01/07MEDICAL UPDATE

E-cigarettes appear to be less addictive than cigarettes for former smokers and this could help improve understanding of how various nicotine delivery devices lead to dependence, according to researchers.

2015/01/05MEDICAL UPDATE

In a report published today in the journal of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, researchers from Cardiff University were also able to show a correlation between patients treated with a higher dosage of insulin and a raised risk of cancer development, heart attacks and stroke.

2014/12/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Los Angeles, CA (November 16, 2014) A new article reports that despite a clear lack of research on male survivors of Ebola, the current recommended practice of waiting at least three months after recovery to have unprotected sex should be upheld.

2014/12/29MEDICAL UPDATE

Seasonal flu vaccines may protect individuals not only against the strains of flu they contain but also against many additional types. The work, directed by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., found that some study participants who reported receiving flu vaccines had a strong immune response not only against the seasonal H3N2 flu strain from 2010, when blood samples were collected for analysis, but also against flu subtypes never included in any vaccine formulation.

2014/12/26MEDICAL UPDATE

Our life-long relationship to alcohol is established early on, a Concordia University study shows. With the holidays around the corner, we're all a little more likely to indulge, especially when it comes to alcohol. While a few extra drinks might be brushed off as holiday cheer, they can actually signal a problem in young adults.

2014/12/22MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - China - by Gary Finnegan: An increase in the number of people searching Google for information about the flu has been used to identify outbreaks even before they should up in official figures. The number of hits on Wikipedia for 'flu' or 'influenza' can also help to pick up local epidemics.

2014/12/19MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - Australia- by Gary Finnegan: New research suggests treatment in Australia and New Zealand for patients with sepsis is the best in the world but the study has raised questions about practices elsewhere and may prompt a review of global guidelines.

2014/12/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Treating patients with T-cell lymphomas is fraught with challenges, requiring new approaches and sharper diagnosis, said Timothy Illidge, MD, PhD, Professor of Targeted Therapy and Oncology at the University of Manchester, who spoke here as part of a satellite symposium held before the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

2014/12/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: The use of chimeric antigen receptor T-cells — in which a patient’s own T cells are modified to fight cancer cells — is showing good results in lymphoma patients, according to early results in small studies. The exciting new approach to combating hematologic malignancies was discussed in a special scientific symposium here at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

2014/12/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended 10 new medicines for approval, taking the total approvals for 2014 to 75 with one additional meeting still to come before the end of the year.

2014/12/08MEDICAL UPDATE

2014/12/05MEDICAL UPDATE

In a study of nearly 2,000 adults, researchers found that a build up of plaque in the body's major arteries was associated with mild cognitive impairment. Results of the study conducted at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center will be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

2014/12/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Volunteers smoked less after a night of olfactory conditioning. New Weizmann Institute research may bring the idea of sleep learning one step closer to reality. The research, which appeared in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that certain kinds of conditioning applied during sleep could induce us to change our behavior.

2014/12/03MEDICAL UPDATE

With research and development costs for many drugs reaching well into the billions, pharmaceutical companies want more than ever to determine whether their drugs already at market have any hidden therapeutic benefits that could warrant putting additional indications on the label and increasing production.

2014/12/02MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients receiving enhanced oral care from a dentist have a significantly lower risk of developing a lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), like ventilator-associated pneumonia, during their hospitalization, researchers reported in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

2014/12/01MEDICAL UPDATE

Substance abuse assessments needed before drugs are prescribed, researchers say. Teens prescribed anti-anxiety or sleep medications may be up to 12 times more likely to abuse those drugs illegally than teens who have never received a prescription, often by obtaining additional pills from friends or family members, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

2014/11/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: While ibuprofen and oral morphine are effective pain relievers for children with broken limbs, ibuprofen is the optimal treatment due to side-effects of morphine, researchers reported in a study published on Oct 27, 2014 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

2014/11/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with oral, frozen and encapsulated fecal material from unrelated donors has resulted in a 90 percent rate of resolution of diarrhea, researchers reported on Oct.11, 2014 in the Journal of the American Medical Association/ JAMA.

2014/11/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Engagement of patients and understanding of early death in this group by Denys Wheatley.
(1) When and why do teenage and young adult oncology patients die early in the cancer pathway? (2) Adolescent and young adult cancer patients’ (AYAs) participation as driver of a new “AYA proof” cancer care concept.

2014/11/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Denis Wheatley: In her introduction, Yolane Lievens (Belgium) explained that when we have to defer from making comment because of the need to be discrete (the Emperor parading himself in the nude), it is as if the obvious must not be stated.

2014/11/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Keynote lecture: Professor Sir Mike Stratton (Cambridge/Hinxton, UK) by Denys Wheatley. On the thesis that the genetic understanding of cancer is fundamental to classifying and hence treating patients according to their known defects, work continues unabated on their genomics.

2014/11/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Denys Wheatley: Chaired by Atsushi Ohtsu and Jean-Yves Douillard, the first speaker Dr Kato (Japan) addressed the issue of the quest for different mutations in the hope of developing appropriately molecular targets for drugs.

2014/11/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Ten-year follow-up of children with familial hypercholesterolemia treated with a statin showed an association between statin treatment and normalization of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), a marker of atherosclerosis, researchers reported in the September 10, 2014 issue of JAMA/The Journal of the American Medical Association.

2014/11/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Reports from the European Society for Medical Oncology 2014 Congress in Madrid by Denys Wheatley: In his talk on Visualising the true spectrum of cancer- will we get convergence from divergence, Peter Campbell (Cambridge, UK) referred to studies on over 1500 AML patients, sequencing 170 genes in toto.

2014/11/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Microvascular complications of diabetes that can lead to blindness and amputations might be reduced by statin therapy, researchers reported on Sept.9, 2014 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

2014/11/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) might be useful in safely treating heart disease, researchers reported on Oct. 19, 2014 in l BMC Medicine. The study suggests that long-term daily use of Viagra could be cardioprotective at different stages of heart disease, with few side effects.

2014/10/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - New “real world” data suggests that the efficacy of Remsima® (infliximab), a biosimilar monoclonal antibody (mAb) anti-TNF-alpha agent approved by the European Commission, is similar to Remicade® (infliximab) in the treatment of IBD (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis).

2014/10/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Asthma takes a backseat to other conditions with older women. Women over the age of 65 face numerous barriers to good health: an increased risk for obesity, greater struggles against poverty and higher rates of asthma with worse health outcomes.

2014/10/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Among older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), particularly those with asthma, newly prescribed long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) and inhaled corticosteroid combination therapy, compared with newly prescribed LABAs alone, was associated with a lower risk of death or COPD hospitalization, according to a study in the September 17 issue of JAMA.

2014/10/24MEDICAL UPDATE

New article shows individuals can improve asthma symptoms by avoiding air pollution. People who suffer from asthma may think there's not a lot they can do to control their asthma besides properly taking medications and avoiding allergic triggers.

2014/10/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Evidence suggests childhood obesity comes before asthma. For years, doctors have known that there is a link between childhood obesity and asthma, but have found it difficult to determine which condition tends to come first, or whether one causes the other.

2014/10/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Studies have shown that 50 percent of patients taking opioids for at least three months are still on opioids five years later. A review of the available studies showed that while opioids may provide significant short-term pain relief, there is no substantial evidence for maintaining pain relief or improved function over long periods of time without serious risk of overdose, dependence or addiction.

2014/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Researchers report that 90% of subjects with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who had relapsed multiple times or failed to respond to standard therapies have achieved remission following treatment with an investigational personalized cellular therapy, CTL019. The findings were published on Oct 15, 2014 in The New England Journal of Medicine/NEJM.

2014/10/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) who are being treated with statins have achieved additional lowering of LDL cholesterol with adjuvant evolocumab therapy, researchers reported on Oct. 1, 2014 in The Lancet.

2014/10/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Denys Wheatley: ESMO Madrid September 2014. Session Monday 29 September 11.00. PET imaging – Potential, pitfalls, and future directions. Two talks on Hodgkin (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) were given in this PET in this session were given by Martin Hutchings (UK) and Josee Zijlstra (The Netherlands).

2014/10/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Denys Wheatley: ESMO Madrid September 2014: Session on Sunday 28 September (poster). Dr Moccia and his group in Bellinzona (Switzerland) report on the marked improvement over 30 years in the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

2014/10/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Gout is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, researchers reported on Oct 2, 2014 in the British Medical Journal/BMJ. And the risk appears to be significantly greater in women with gout, double that of women who don't have the condition.

2014/10/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Compared with monotherapy with long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs), combination therapy with LABAs and inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) among older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), has resulted in a lower risk of death or COPD hospitalization. The finding was particular strong for patients with asthma.

2014/10/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Grandparents' support linked to parents' willingness to have additional children and child well-being. Grandparents can significantly influence parents' decisions to have additional children and the well-being of grandchildren, according to a recent study completed at the University of Eastern Finland.

2014/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Child deaths have fallen to very low rates in all industrialised countries, but many deaths in children and adolescents are still potentially preventable, and much more could be done to cut future deaths, according to a new three-part Series on child deaths in high-income countries, published in The Lancet.

2014/09/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Following heart attack, patients who undergo revascularization of all significantly blocked arteries achieve better outcomes than patients who undergo revascularization of the “culprit” artery only, researchers reported on Sept. 1, 2014 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2014.

2014/09/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers from first large randomized trial comparing paracetamol with placebo for lower back pain report that paracetamol did not excel placebo at hastening recovery from acute episodes of lower back pain, improving pain levels, function, sleep or quality of life.

2014/09/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Compared to no screening, flexible sigmoidoscopy screening has resulted in a reduced incidence of colorectal cancer and rate of death from colorectal cancer, researchers in the August 13, 2014 issue of JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2014/09/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that drug therapy for ADHD does not increase the risk of suicide attempts or suicide. The findings were published on June 18, 2014 in the British Medical Journal/BMJ.

2014/09/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - After evaluating data on 5 million adults in the UK, researchers concluded that an increasing body mass index (BMI) raises the odds of developing 10 of the most common cancers. The findings were published on Aug.13, 2014 in The Lancet.

2014/09/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Ibrutinib has significantly outperformed ofatumumab as a second-line therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a Phase 3 study published on May 31, 2014 in the OnLine First edition of the New England Journal of Medicine/NEJM.

2014/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Two intravenous doses of an iron supplement appears to cause heart failure patients with iron deficiency to achieve significant improvements in functional capacity, quality of life and reduced risk of hospitalization for worsening heart failure.

2014/09/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the ESC Annual Congress by Bruce Sylvester: The investigational monoclonal antibody alirocumab, which significantly lowers cholesterol on top of regular statin therapy, also lowers the incidence of cardiovascular events, researchers from a long-term study reported on August 31 at ESC 2014.

2014/09/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the European Society of Cardiology Annual Congress in Barcelona by Bruce Sylvester - Results from the PARADIGM-HF trial, presented at ESC 2014 on August 30,2014 and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, are “…an astonishing result and a real breakthrough for patients with heart failure,” said John McMurray, MD, co-primary author, from the University of Glasgow, UK.

2014/09/12MEDICAL UPDATE

By William Bernal, King’s College Hospital, London, UK. Body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared) is an important measurement for assessing perioperative risk in patients undergoing surgery; however, although BMI is a significant marker of co-morbidity in the general population, its relationship with surgical outcomes is complex, particularly in the context of chronic liver disease.

2014/09/11MEDICAL UPDATE

By Irene Scalera et al, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Using livers from deceased donors over the age of 60 years could provide a means of expanding the donor pool for liver transplantation, provided the donors and recipients are carefully selected and matched.

2014/09/10MEDICAL UPDATE

By Aliaksei Pustavoitau et al, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA. Although the overall mortality in the first year after liver transplantation is decreasing each year, centres with a low annual volume of transplants tend to have higher mortality rates.

2014/09/08MEDICAL UPDATE

By Vincent H Karam et al, Hôpital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, France. Liver transplantation is associated with consistent improvements in quality of life in the first three years after transplantation, although the rate of improvement may be different depending on the underlying cause of liver disease.

2014/09/04MEDICAL UPDATE

What we are doing now, what the future Holds, and how Tumour profiling is just the beginning
by Dr Paul Ross, Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, London. At the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) there was considerable focus on the role of predictive biomarkers and the use of same in both development of targeted therapies and in the selection of patients for established targeted therapies.

2014/09/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Ibrutinib has significantly outperformed ofatumumab as a second-line therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a Phase 3 study published on May 31, 2014 in the OnLine First edition of the New England Journal of Medicine/NEJM.

2014/08/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: In spite of preclinical signs of preventing tumor progression and improving survival, everolimus does not improve overall survival in patients with advanced liver cancer when compared to placebo. Researchers reported this finding in the July 2 , 2014 issue of JAMA.

2014/08/25MEDICAL UPDATE

German and UK citizens make up bulk of numbers; neurological diseases most common reason to end life. Citizens from Germany and the UK make up the bulk of the numbers, with neurological conditions, such paralysis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis, accounting for almost half of the cases, the findings show.

2014/08/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Obesity, especially excessive belly fat, is a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)
Excessive belly fat and low physical activity are linked to progression of the disease in people with COPD, but it is not known whether these modifiable factors are linked to new cases.

2014/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

2014/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers examine health benefits of yoga for asthma sufferers.
Yoga has long been promoted as a method for improving physical and mental well-being. And although yoga is often suggested to asthma sufferers to help alleviate symptoms, a new study found little evidence that yoga will improve symptoms.

2014/08/20MEDICAL UPDATE

In a study published in the scientific journal Nature Immunology, a group at the La Jolla Institute (LJI) led by Pandurangan Vijayanand, Ph.D. identify new genes that likely contribute to asthma, a disease that currently affects over 200 million people world wide.

2014/08/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Some of the increase in asthma risk toward the end of the 20th century could be attributed to the increase in body mass index (BMI) in mid-childhood, according to new research published in PLOS Medicine. The study, led by Raquel Granell from the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues, provides genetic evidence that higher fat mass and lean mass increase the risk of asthma in mid-childhood.

2014/08/19MEDICAL UPDATE

2014/08/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Paracetamol is no better than placebo at speeding recovery from acute episodes of lower back pain or improving pain levels, function, sleep, or quality of life, according to the first large randomised trial to compare the effectiveness of paracetamol with placebo for low-back pain.

2014/08/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation partners with the American Cancer Society in Swaziland. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) announced a new partnership to improve access to essential pain medications for people living with HIV in Swaziland.

2014/08/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Opioids are widely prescribed to patients experiencing chronic severe pain. While these drugs are very effective for treating and managing pain, they have one particularly bothersome side effect: constipation.

2014/08/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Australian researchers reveal that sudden, acute episodes of low back pain are not linked to weather conditions such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind direction and precipitation. Findings published in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), indicate that the risk of low back pain slightly increases with higher wind speed or wind gusts, but was not clinically significant.

2014/08/12MEDICAL UPDATE

A telephone-delivered intervention, which included automated symptom monitoring, produced clinically meaningful improvements in chronic musculoskeletal pain compared to usual care, according to a study in the July 16 issue of JAMA.

2014/08/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the Joint International Congress of ILTS, ELITA and LICAGE 2014. Recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection after transplantation is a major challenge for centres all over the world and continues to take a heavy toll in terms of long-term survival.

2014/08/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the Joint International Congress of ILTS, ELITA and LICAGE 2014. Roger Williams, Institute of Hepatology/Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK. Medical care after acute liver failure has improved greatly in recent years; meanwhile selecting candidates for liver transplantation after acute liver failure remains a considerable challenge due to the poor prognostic value of the current selection criteria.

2014/08/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Professor John O'Grady, Kings College Hospital, London - Liver transplantation is highly successful from the technical perspective, returning the majority of patients to a level of health compatible with a ‘normal’ existence. The challenges of immunosuppression and its consequences are diminishing and the prospects for managing recurrent disease are improving.

2014/08/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that routinely monitoring the pulse of anyone who has had a stroke could detect irregular heartbeat, a major cause of second stroke. The findings were published on July 23, 2014 in the online issue of Neurology.

2014/07/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that obesity, notably belly fat, is a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings were published on July 7, 2014 in CMAJ/Canadian Medical Association Journal.

2014/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the British Association of Dermatologists annual meeting held in Glasgow from 30th June - 3rd July by Christine Clark - Methylisothiazolinone (MI) allergy reared its head again in a somewhat unexpected guise. A case report described how a 52-year old woman with no previous history of asthma developed severe facial dermatitis and acute shortness of breath after painting her living room with B&Q Value Matt Emulsion.

2014/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the British Association of Dermatologists annual meeting held in Glasgow from 30th June -3rd July 2014 by Christine Clark. Dermatologists from Cardiff warned that cases of leprosy can be misdiagnosed as more common skin conditions. Two cases illustrate the point: the first, aged 25, had been experiencing changes to skin colour and sensation on the left side of his face for six months, and lightening of the skin on his right shoulder for a year.

2014/07/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the British Association of Dermatologists annual meeting held in Glasgow from 30th June -3rd July 2014 by Christine Clark. Patients can suffer lifelong damage at the hands of unregulated cosmetic practitioners who may be unaware of some the risks involved in the procedures that they perform, according to Dr Tamara Griffiths.

2014/07/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Lugano, Switzerland, 25 July 2014. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the leading pan-European association representing medical oncology professionals, has expressed concern that the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation [1] could make cancer research impossible and add a significant burden to both doctors and cancer patients.

2014/07/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Esther Drain - Skin cancer is now the commonest cancer in the UK and the incidence is rising, mainly due to people taking more holidays in sunny regions. Every year in the UK 13,000 malignant melanomas and 100,000 non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) will be diagnosed. Basal cell carcinomas outnumber all other cancers put together. Just over 2000 people die every year in the UK from malignant melanomas.

2014/07/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the British Association of Dermatologists Conference, held in Glasgow, 30th June -3rd July 2014 by Christine Clark. The use of antibiotics for acne could be phased out within 10 years as it is poorly supported by the available evidence and could be contributing to the widespread development of resistant organisms, according to consultant dermatologist Keith Freeman.

2014/07/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - 3D Mammography detects a significantly higher rate of invasive cancers and reduces the rate of unnecessary recalls, researchers reported on June 25, 2014 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

2014/07/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Findings published on June 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine show that the antibiotic dalbavancin is as effective as vancomycin for treating serious bacterial skin and skin-structure infections.

2014/07/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure appear to be predictive of different cardiovascular diseases and at different ages, researchers reported in a special themed issue of The Lancet, published on May 29, 2014 ahead in advance of Hypertension 2014, the Joint Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and International Society of Hypertension (ISH), held in Athens, Greece on June 13-16.

2014/07/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Heart attack survivors appear to live longer by increasing dietary intake of fiber, and consumption of increased cereal fiber is especially beneficial, researchers reported on April 29, 2014 in the British Medical Journal/bmj.com.

2014/07/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Treatment with tadalafil or sidenafil appears to improve blood flow in the muscles of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to research published in the May 7, 2014 online issue of Neurology.

2014/07/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Adding goserelin to standard chemotherapy significantly reduces the risk of early menopause in breast cancer patients, researchers reported in May of 2014 at the ASCO/American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

2014/07/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram appears to impede development of amyloid beta, a plaque-forming peptide in the brain believed to be involved in the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

2014/07/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing the cardiovascular risks of systemic ibuprofen medicines. The focus is expected to be on tablets taken by mouth rather than topical ibuprofen products such as creams and gels.

2014/07/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - The EU medicines regulator has rejigged its plan on how clinical trial data will be shared with health professionals, after intense lobbying by doctors, hospital pharmacists and the European Ombudsman.

2014/07/11MEDICAL UPDATE

An international research team led by Cesar A. Arias, M.D., Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has identified a new superbug that caused a bloodstream infection in a Brazilian patient. The report appeared in the April 17 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

2014/07/10MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters: Finland by Gary Finnegan - A new study by Finnish researchers suggests that overweight children with a common mutation in the PNPLA3 gene can suffer liver metabolism irregularities which affect them through their lives.

2014/07/09MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters: Italy by Gary Finnegan - Alcoholic liver disease is one of the most common reasons for liver transplantation but around half of liver transplant recipients struggle with alcohol relapse. This can cause complications with the graft, reducing their chances of survival.

2014/07/08MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters: Australia by Gary Finnegan - Highly virulent forms of the influenza virus can cause serious illness and may be fatal. Some of the damage is caused by a particularly strong immune response, especially in the lungs. Scientists are working to understand this immune reaction in order to reduce the most severe consequences of flu infection.

2014/07/08MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters: Sweden by Gary Finnegan - A newly discovered tick-borne bacterium known as Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis has been implicated in six cases of disease in Sweden. A study led by the Sahlgrenska Academy suggests that this bacterium is primarily a risk for people who are already sick and who are receiving immunosuppressive drugs.

2014/07/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by René Adam, Guiseppe Tisone and Wolf Bechstein - with ever better immunosuppression regimens, outcomes in liver transplantation have improved beyond what anyone could have imagined when the first human liver transplantation took place in 1963 [1].

2014/07/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Despite some concerns to the contrary, the use of insulin glargine (Lantus) is not associated with an increased risk of any cancer in people with diabetes or prediabetes, according to a substudy of the prospective Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial.

2014/07/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark - Insulin ranks among the top 10 ‘high-alert’ or high-risk medicines worldwide. (ref NPSA/2011/PSA003) It is also been an important cause of hospital admissions, mainly as a consequence of severe hypoglycaemia. (ref NPSA/2011/PSA003) As the prevalence of diabetes in Europe and the number of insulin products available both continue to increase it is important for all those involved in the prescribing and administration of insulin to be aware of the risks and the necessary safety measures.

2014/07/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Despite some concerns to the contrary, the use of insulin glargine (Lantus) is not associated with an increased risk of any cancer in people with diabetes or prediabetes, according to a substudy of the prospective Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial.

2014/07/01MEDICAL UPDATE

In the largest study to date of the relationship between sleep apnoea and diabetes, a new study of more than 8,500 Canadian patients has demonstrated a link between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and the development of diabetes, confirming earlier evidence of such a relationship from smaller studies with shorter follow-up periods.

2014/06/30MEDICAL UPDATE

Pan-European Survey reveals low levels of asthma control in Ireland.
Irish respondents are experiencing asthma symptoms nearly 3 days a week.
48% of Irish people with asthma are classified as ‘uncontrolled’.
One in ten people with asthma in Ireland never think about their condition.

2014/06/30MEDICAL UPDATE

Testing vitamin D alone is not enough - Combined assessment of parathyroid hormone along with vitamin D may be needed to assess the impact of vitamin D status on sugar metabolism, according to researchers.

2014/06/30MEDICAL UPDATE

From 2006 to 2008, nearly 75 per cent of patients with diabetes living in Ontario did not receive all of the tests recommended to properly monitor their disease. How their doctor was paid was one of the factors determining the care they received.

2014/06/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Colon cancer patients diagnosed before age 50 have more advanced stages of colon cancer at diagnosis but have better survival at all stages of disease. Researchers reported these findings in a poster presentation at ASCO 2014.

2014/06/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that a pooled analysis of two major trials suggests that short- and long-term outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy in high-risk locally advanced rectal cancer compare well to outcomes with standard chemoradiotherapy in risk-unselected patients.

2014/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Many people with cystic fibrosis develop diabetes. The reasons for this have been largely unknown, but now researchers have identified a molecular mechanism that contributes to the raised diabetes risk.

2014/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

People with diabetes have about double the risk of premature death as people of the same age without diabetes. Studies also have shown that they have about twice the odds of suffering from depression, which further increases their mortality risk.

2014/06/23MEDICAL UPDATE

The antibodies significantly reduced baseline inflammation and protected against inhaled allergens. Researchers at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and McMaster University have successfully tested an antibody that can improve the quality of life for individuals with asthma by relieving inflammation in the lungs.

2014/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Mario Castro, M.D., listens to the lungs of a patient with asthma (pictured). Castro led a clinical trial investigating the effects of vitamin D supplements on asthma control. Adding vitamin D to asthma treatment to improve breathing only appears to benefit patients who achieve sufficient levels of the supplement in the blood. Overall, the ability to control asthma did not differ between a study group that received vitamin D supplements and a group that received placebo, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

2014/06/19MEDICAL UPDATE

2014/06/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Study finds asthma is associated with decrease in bone mineral density. Some of the 26 million Americans with asthma may also be prone to bone loss. According to a study published today in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, there seems to be association between asthma and a decrease in bone mineral density.

2014/06/17MEDICAL UPDATE

An international research group with members from the University of Basel, several EU countries, Israel and the USA, analyzed patient satisfaction with pain treatment after surgery. The study based on an extensive multi-national dataset shows that patients actively involved in their treatment report higher levels of satisfaction.

2014/06/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers at King's College London have discovered a link between four common chronic pain syndromes (CPS), suggesting that some people may be genetically predisposed to suffer from conditions of this type.

2014/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers may have identified key genes linked to why some people have a higher tolerance for pain than others, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

2014/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Non-invasive focused ultrasound thermal therapy reduces pain from bone metastases. When cancer progresses and spreads to the bone, patients often suffer debilitating pain. Now, a new phase III clinical trial shows that non-invasive magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound treatment that heats the cancer within the bone, relieves pain and improves function for most patients when other treatment options are limited. The results were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

2014/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - The presence of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs895374, located in UbcH7, an E2 ligase conducting neddylation of HECT E3 ligases involved in EGFR degradation, is independently predictive of the patient-specific utility of cetuximab treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer.

2014/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Intermittent strategies for delivering systemic treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer show no clinically significant superiority in overall survival rates when compared to continuous delivery, whether or not maintenance therapy is included. Notably, quality-of-life is similar or better with use of an intermittent strategy.

2014/06/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - KRAS exon 2 mutations are independent predictors of time to recurrence or disease-free survival among patients with stage III distal colon cancer who are receiving adjuvant therapy.

2014/06/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Metastatic colorectal cancer patients who achieved early response to first-line chemotherapy also achieved significantly higher rates of prolonged survival, compared to patients who did not have an early response.

2014/06/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Survival based on primary site of disease is not significantly different among metastatic colorectal cancer patients, Australian researchers reported in a poster presentation at ASCO 2014.

2014/05/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Metformin therapy at 500 twice daily (BID) is not protective against heart failure in non-diabetic patients following a heart attack, researchers reported on March 31, 2014 at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

2014/05/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients involved in moderate to vigorous physical activity are at a lower risk of hospital readmission within 30 days compared to physically inactive COPD patients, researchers reported on April 9, 2014 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

2014/05/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Using ordinary instrumentation plus a computer during nocturnal insulin delivery, scientists have found a method to predict and prevent dangerously low overnight blood sugars in adolescents and adults with type-1 diabetes.

2014/05/23MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - Italy - Death rates from pancreatic cancer are predicted to increase in men and women in 2014 and beyond, according to a comprehensive study published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology.

2014/05/23MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - New Zealand - A web-based alcohol screening and intervention programme had only a minor impact on drinking habits among university students in New Zealand, new research shows.

2014/05/22MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - Australia - The number of deaths from viral hepatitis in Australia has surpassed the number of preventable AIDS-related deaths, according to a study by the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health.

2014/05/22MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - China - Declining air pollution following the closure of coal-burning power plants in China has been linked to improved childhood development scores and higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a key protein for brain development.

2014/05/21MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - At its April meeting, the EMA’s influential Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended that a marketing authorisation be granted for Mekinist (trametinib).

2014/05/20MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights - by Gary Finnegan - A new system designed to increase the safety of medicines in Europe has seen a significant increase in the number of suspected adverse drug reactions reported to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

2014/05/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of FDA approved drugs - by Bruce Sylvester - Over half of depressed subjects in a newly reported study who were injected with onabotulinumtoxinA (OBA/Botox) achieved substantial improvement in depressive symptoms. The study was published in the May edition of the Journal of Psychiatric Research. It is the largest randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study to date on the effect of OBA on depression.

2014/05/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Emerging uses of FDA approved drugs - Eplerenone, a drug used to reduce the risk of death in patients with heart failure, shows significant mortality-related efficacy when administered to patients following an acute (ST elevated) myocardial infarction.

2014/05/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Emerging uses of FDA approved drugs - Immunosuppresant drugs used to prevent organ rejection after transplantation could become used in fighting persistent HIV infection, researchers reported on April 3, 2014 in the American Journal of Transplantation.

2014/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A 15% drop in dietary salt use from 2003-2011 in England and a 40% drop in deaths from heart disease and stroke during the same period appear to be related, researchers reported April 14, 2014 in the online journal BMJ Open.

2014/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - A retrospective study of over 224,000 patients who underwent over 314,000 colonoscopies indicates that pre-cancerous adenoma detection tracks the future risk of colorectal cancer. The study was published on April 2, 2014 in NEJM/The New England Journal of Medicine.

2014/05/12MEDICAL UPDATE

The Joint Committee on Health and Children has published its report on hearings in relation to the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Bill. The main aim of the proposed legislation is to deprive the tobacco industry of its ability to market itself through on pack branding.

2014/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

The introduction of laws banning smoking in public places and workplaces in North America and Europe has been quickly followed by large drops in rates of preterm births and children attending hospital for asthma, according to the first systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of smoke-free legislation on child health.

2014/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

In up to 85 percent of cases. "The substantial numbers of patients misdiagnosed and under diagnosed in this study is a cause for concern. It is important that COPD is diagnosed as early as possible so effective treatment can be used to try to reduce lung damage, improve quality of life, and even life expectancy", explains author Dr Rupert Jones from Plymouth University Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry, Plymouth, UK.

2014/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Analysis could eventually lead to improved therapy, researcher says. So many variables can contribute to shortness of breath that no person can keep them all straight. But a computer program, capable of tracking more than 100 clinical variables for almost 400 people, has shown it can identify various subtypes of asthma, which perhaps could lead to targeted, more effective treatments.

2014/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have found that a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in older adults was associated with increased risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), especially MCI of skills other than memory, and the greatest risk was among patients who had COPD for more than five years.

2014/05/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Enzyme's role is to 'throw away' protein if it overstays its welcome during immune response. An enzyme that helps maintain immune system function by "throwing away" a specific protein has a vital role in controlling symptoms of allergic asthma, new research in mice suggests.

2014/05/07MEDICAL UPDATE

'The jury is still out on e-cigarettes. They are likely to prove less harmful than tobacco, however they can potentially become a gateway drug to smoking tobacco, due to the commonality of the nicotine addiction. The investment by the tobacco industry in the marketing and development of e-cigarettes is of concern, as they will have little interest in their potential for cessation; but entirely in their potential for profit'. Dr Ross Morgan, Chairperson, ASH Ireland.

2014/05/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Someone's drilling an icicle into your temple, you're throwing up, and light and sound are unbearable. Yes, it's another migraine attack. But now in 140 characters on Twitter, you can share your agony with other sufferers. It indicates a trend toward the cathartic sharing of physical pain, as well as emotional pain on social media.

2014/05/06MEDICAL UPDATE

The default mode network is a key area in the resting state, involving the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, medial prefrontal and lateral temporal cortices, and is characterized by balanced positive and negative connections classified as the "hubs" of structural and functional connectivity in brain studies.

2014/05/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Results of a new trial of treatments for chronic whiplash pain, published in The Lancet, suggest that expensive, intense physiotherapy sessions do not show any additional benefit over a single physiotherapy session of education and advice with phone follow-up.

2014/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Twenty percent of adults who have tonsillectomies will have a complication, which is significantly higher than previously shown, according to a team of researchers. The team also found that these complications substantially increase health care expenditures.

2014/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Strong opioids including oxycodone are amongst the most effective analgesics to combat moderate to severe pain of various aetiologies, but opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD) represents a relevant problem.

2014/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Thirty five million people worldwide have dementia, and this number is expected to increase to 115 million by 2050. Agitation and aggression are common in people with dementia, in particular those with moderate to severe dementia living in nursing homes, where the cross sectional prevalence of these symptoms exceeds 50%.

2014/05/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - On March 29, 2014, investigators presented results from three separate evolocumab trials at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting/ACC2014. Evolocumab is a human monoclonal antibody to PCSK9.

2014/04/30MEDICAL UPDATE

Application of U.S. and European cholesterol guidelines to a European population found that proportions of individuals eligible for statins differed substantially, with one U.S. guideline recommending statins for nearly all men and two-thirds of women, proportions exceeding those of the other guidelines, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/29MEDICAL UPDATE

Among patients undergoing aortic valve replacement using a catheter tube, a comparison of two types of heart valve technologies, balloon-expandable or self-expandable valve systems, found a greater rate of device success with the balloon-expandable valve, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/29MEDICAL UPDATE

The connection between being underweight and the higher risk of dying is true for both adults and foetuses. Being underweight puts people at highest risk of dying, just as obesity does, new research has found.

2014/04/29MEDICAL UPDATE

Study helps put new TAVR technology in perspective for high-risk patients. The first one-year outcomes data of transcatheter heart valve replacement (TAVR) in nearly all U.S. patients undergoing this procedure shows that real-world outcomes are comparable to or slightly better than those found in clinical trials, according to registry data presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

2014/04/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Applying the updated 2014 blood pressure (BP) guideline to the U.S. population suggests that nearly 6 million adults are no longer classified as needing hypertension medication, and that an estimated 13.5 million adults would now be considered as having achieved goal blood pressure, primarily older adults, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Although some research has suggested that metformin, a medication often used in the treatment of diabetes, may have favourable effects on ventricular (heart) function, among patients without diabetes who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; a procedure such as stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; a certain pattern on an electrocardiogram following a heart attack), treatment with metformin did not result in improved ventricular function, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with its presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/25MEDICAL UPDATE

The most frequently used mechanical circulatory assist device in the world may have untapped potential, physicians say. One of many uses for the intra-aortic balloon pump is helping ensure adequate oxygen and blood delivery to a heart struggling to resume beating in the aftermath of coronary bypass surgery, said Dr. Mary Arthur, cardiovascular anesthesiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Regents Health System.

2014/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Heart problems less likely for spouses than for single, divorced and widowed people. People who are married have lower rates of several cardiovascular diseases compared with those who are single, divorced or widowed, according to research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

2014/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Results of the study could help the 715,000 Americans who suffer from heart attacks each year. Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have identified a biological process that may help physicians predict when someone with heart disease is likely to have a heart attack in the near future.

2014/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Obese people who have stomach surgery to help them lose weight will halve their risk of heart attack according to new research from a team of doctors at the University of East Anglia, University of Manchester and University of Aberdeen.

2014/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

A comparison of the safety of biodegradable polymer biolimus-eluting stents vs durable polymer everolimus-eluting stents finds similar outcomes for measures including death and heart attack after two years, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Use of the drug aleglitazar, which has shown the ability to lower glucose levels and have favorable effects on cholesterol, did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke among patients with type 2 diabetes and recent heart attack or unstable angina, according to a JAMA study released online to coincide with presentation at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

2014/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the ACC Annual Scientific Meeting, 29 - 31 March 2014 in Washington. Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are associated with reduced mortality and cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes, while angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) have little effect, according to a meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine.

2014/04/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the Oral Presentation by Mari Kilner, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne- Thromboelastography is a method of testing the efficiency of coagulation which measures not only coagulation factor function, but also takes into account platelet function, clot strength, and fibrinolysis which cannot be done with standard prothrombin or thromboplastin time assays.

2014/04/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the Oral Presentation by Marc Clancy, Western Infirmary, Glasgow - Although the mainstay of clinical immunosuppression since the 1980s, calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) are narrow therapeutic index drugs and small changes in systemic exposure can have significant consequences in terms of pharmacodynamics response.

2014/04/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the Oral Presentation by Teun van Gelder, Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands - Increasing use of generic drugs, escalating research and development costs and shrinking public healthcare budgets are slowly but steadily chipping away at pharmaceutical companies’ profit margins and thus eroding the foundations of documenting new compounds in large-scale randomised clinical trials.

2014/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the Oral Presentation by Lluís Guirado, Fundació Puigvert, Barcelona, Spain. Renal function is a strong predictor of patient and graft survival after renal transplantation, and switching from a twice-daily to a once-daily immunosuppressive regimen can help preserve renal function by maintaining stable serum levels and helping adherence.

2014/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the Oral Presentation by Phanibhushana Munipalle, Southmead Hospital, Bristol. Altruistic organ donation, that is, where a person volunteers to donate a kidney for transplantation without being related to the recipient or even knowing who it will be, is no longer a taboo – on the contrary, it is becoming more common and forms part of the NHSBT task force for increasing the number of organ donors.

2014/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Brian Camilleri, Ipswich Hospital, Ipswich - Non-adherence to immunosuppressive treatment post-transplantation is common and may have calamitous consequences for short- and long-term outcomes.

2014/04/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Transplantation across the immune barrier is becoming increasingly common, but constitutes a risk factor for the development of donor-specific antibodies and thus for long-term adverse outcomes including antibody-mediated injury and graft loss.

2014/04/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting from the annual British Transplantation Society meeting in Glasgow by Anthony Dorling, King's College London - Chronic rejection is a major cause of graft failure beyond one year post-transplantation. Premature loss of renal transplants has remained largely constant in recent years despite the introduction of new drugs and protocols [1].

2014/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Dorry Segev, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA - Every transplant surgeon has had his/her share of cases that turned out less than successful and with the benefit of hindsight should not have been attempted.

2014/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Following a first ischemic stroke, patients who keep their blood pressure well controlled appear to halve their risk of a second stroke, researchers reported on March 27, 2014 in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

2014/04/11MEDICAL UPDATE

From the annual meeting of the British Transplantation Society in Glasgow by Marc J. Clancy. Since its establishment within the mainstream of clinical care, the technology of organ transplantation has proceeded at an incredible pace, frequently faster than the cultural, legal and ethical framework in which it takes place. Normothermic organ preservation (NRP) represents a technology that was temporarily lost in the rapidly advancing technologies of the field.

2014/04/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A traditional Chinese herbal medication appears to slow progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes, and at a rate similar to prescription treatments, researchers reported in the February, 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

2014/04/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Pregnant women who take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs do not increase their risk of miscarriages, researchers report in a study published on Feb. 3, 2014 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

2014/04/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers find stress can delay pregnancy and double the risk of infertility. Having difficulty getting pregnant can be an incredibly stressful experience for any couple. Now, for the first time, researchers have data that suggests preconception stress might play a role in infertility.

2014/04/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Latest research shows that the chemical citrate – a by-product of natural cell metabolism – is mixed with water to create a viscous fluid that is trapped between the nano-scale crystals that form our bones.

2014/04/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Little evidence other complementary or alternative therapies work. A new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology suggests that there is little evidence that most complementary or alternative medicine therapies (CAM) treat the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

2014/04/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Common cholesterol-lowering drugs could provide relief to patients suffering from a chronic lung disease, a study has shown. Statins were found to help alleviate the chronic coughing associated with the disease for some patients.

2014/04/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Evidence increasingly suggests that insufficient or disturbed sleep is associated with metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, and addressing poor quality sleep should be a target for the prevention – and even treatment – of these disorders, say the authors [1] of a Review, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.

2014/03/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: ‘Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.’ That famous line from the Incredible Hulk was a warning to anyone in danger of provoking a fit of rage from the green-skinned monster. But it turns out the real victim of angry outbursts is the person who loses their cool. New research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical shows a nearly fivefold increase in risk for heart attack in the two hours following outbursts of anger.

2014/03/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan: Around 13 million lives could be saved by 2050 if China were to implement comprehensive tobacco-control measures set down by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a new study has claimed.

2014/03/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Practising sport for more than an hour day reduces the risk of contracting breast cancer, and this applies to women of any age and any weight, and also unaffected by geographical location, according to research presented to the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9).

2014/03/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: A study published on Feb. 27, 2014 in The Lancet suggests that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients who are mildly obese are more likely to live longer when they were fed a calorie-rich diet high in fat.

2014/03/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Newly developed contrast MRI can help physicians predict which atrial fibrillation people have the best chance of benefiting from catheter ablation, researchers reported on Feb. 4, 2014 in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2014/03/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins: Women who are diagnosed with early stage breast cancer who also carry a mutation on the BRCA breast cancer gene are less likely to die following a double mastectomy than women who have one breast removed, researchers reported online in the BMJ/British Journal of Medicine on February 11, 2014.

2014/03/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Electronic stimulation therapy to the upper airway during sleep is effective in reducing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), researchers reported in the Jan. 9, 2014 issue of the NEJM / New England Journal of Medicine.

2014/03/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Ongoing statin treatment appears to prevent delirium in critically ill patients who had taken a statin prior to hospitalization, researchers reported online on Jan. 17, 2014 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

2014/03/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: The antidepressant citalopram (Celexa/Cipramil, and generic) significantly reduces agitation among patients with Alzheimer's disease, researchers reported in the Feb. 19, 2014 issue of JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association.

2014/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester: Topiramate, an FDA-approved anticonvulsant drug which had been shown to reduce drinking in patients committed to complete abstinence, appears to help problem drinkers whose want to reduce alcohol consumption, especially a specific group with a genetic makeup linked to the efficacy of the therapy.

2014/03/12MEDICAL UPDATE

"Despite already being rolled-out in many countries, our study is the first to look at the feasibility of the Xpert test in a real-life clinical setting in southern Africa", explains study leader Professor Keertan Dheda from the Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town in South Africa in The Lancet.

2014/03/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Asthma sufferers allergic to cats doubles, making holiday travel challenging. People with asthma travelling to pet friendly homes for the holidays may want to pack allergy medication along with their inhaler.

2014/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Kids with high BMIs exposed to high levels of air pollutants had nearly triple asthma risk. Obese children exposed to high levels of air pollutants were nearly three times as likely to have asthma, compared with non-obese children and lower levels of pollution exposure, report researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

2014/03/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Mother's illness, allergen exposure may predict child's risk of asthma and allergy. Women that are pregnant may want to take extra precaution around those that are sniffling and sneezing this winter. According to a new study published today, the more common colds and viral infections a woman has during pregnancy, the higher the risk her baby will have asthma.

2014/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Abstract: Flow cytometry (FCM) is more sensitive than conventional cytology for detection of occult leptomeningeal lymphoma; however, some FCM-negative patients show central nervous system (CNS) recurrence.

2014/02/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Components in the outer wall of bacteria directly activate pain sensors, triggering immediate pain and inflammatory responses. This finding by a multinational team sheds new light on pain associated with bacterial infections and reveals a new target for drugs designed to treat them.

2014/02/27MEDICAL UPDATE

New research suggests that sedating patients before a nerve block needed to diagnose or treat chronic pain increases costs, risks and unnecessary surgeries, and sedation does nothing to increase patient satisfaction or long-term pain control.

2014/02/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Hyperactivity of our immune system can cause a state of chronic inflammation. If chronic, the inflammation will affect our body and result in disease. In the devastating disease multiple sclerosis, hyperactivity of immune cells called T-cells induce chronic inflammation and degeneration of the brain.

2014/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A recent pharmacokinetic study with buprenorphine transdermal patches showed similar systemic exposures of buprenorphine in subjects aged 75 and 50–60 years. The current prospective, open-label study aimed to verify this in a clinical setting by evaluating efficacy and safety of buprenorphine patches in patients with chronic osteoarthritis (OA) pain.

2014/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have pinpointed why normal aging is accompanied by a diminished ability to regain strength and mobility after muscle injury: Over time, stem cells within muscle tissues dedicated to repairing damage become less able to generate new muscle fibers and struggle to self-renew.

2014/02/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Genetically modified T cells induced complete remissions in 88 percent of advanced leukemia patients treated. Investigators have reported more encouraging news about one of the most exciting methods of cancer treatment today. The largest clinical study ever conducted to date of patients with advanced leukemia found that 88 percent achieved complete remissions after being treated with genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. The results were published today in Science Translational Medicine.

2014/02/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Very good long-term results for Atrial Fibrillation catheter ablation across Europe. Sophia Antipolis, 18 February 2014: One-quarter of high risk patients do not receive anticoagulants after ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to the latest survey of European practice.

2014/02/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have created artificial muscles by twisting and coiling ordinary fishing line. University of Texas researchers and their international collaborators have made artificial muscles in a variety of sizes from ordinary polymer fishing line.

2014/02/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Aging men weighing treatment should be warned about cardiovascular events. According to a statement issued today by the Endocrine Society, the risks and benefits of testosterone therapy for older men with declining levels of the hormone need to be fully evaluated.

2014/02/13MEDICAL UPDATE

The thyroid hormone thyroxine, which controls our day-to-day activity and was previously believed to remain at a constant level in the blood, actually fluctuates as a result of a protein which modifies the release of the hormone depending on body temperature, new research reveals. The research was published today, 29 January, in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

2014/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

Caffeine is the most widely used drug, but little is known about helping those who depend on it. "I'm a zombie without my morning coffee." "My blood type is Diet Coke." "Caffeine isn't a drug, it's a vitamin." Most people make jokes like these about needing a daily boost from their favourite caffeinated beverage—whether first thing in the morning or to prevent the after-lunch slump.

2014/02/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Certain probiotics could help women lose weight and keep it off, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition by a team of researchers headed by Université Laval Professor Angelo Tremblay.

2014/02/07MEDICAL UPDATE

New interim analysis study findings presented for the first time today at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans suggest bendamustine and rituximab (BR) as a new treatment option for fit elderly patients with advanced Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL)1.

2014/02/06MEDICAL UPDATE

For patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS), low levels of vitamin D were found to strongly predict disease severity and hasten its progression, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) investigators in collaboration with Bayer HealthCare.

2014/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

The Football Fans in Training programme (FFIT) has run for three seasons at Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. The research, led by a team at the University of Glasgow, UK, shows that FFIT has proved extremely popular with men, and its effectiveness and value for money have now been clearly demonstrated in one of the world's first randomised control trial (RCT) of a health programme delivered through professional sports clubs.

2014/02/03MEDICAL UPDATE

SAN DIEGO — Higher levels of melatonin, a hormone involved in the sleep-wake cycle, may suggest decreased risk for developing advanced prostate cancer, according to results presented here at the AACR-Prostate Cancer Foundation Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research, held Jan. 18-21.

2014/01/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have discovered the fundamental biology of calcium waves in relation to heart arrhythmias. The findings published in Nature Medicine outlines the discovery of this fundamental physiological process that researchers hope will one day help design molecularly tailored medications that correct the pathophysiology.

2014/01/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients with low vitamin D can reduce pain by taking supplements, and possibly lower the costs of other drug and non-drug interventions, researchers reported on Jan. 17, 2014 in the journal of PAIN.

2014/01/29MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Less than half of Americans with eye damage caused by diabetes are aware of the connection between diabetes and visual impairment, researchers reported online on Dec. 19, 2013 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

2014/01/27MEDICAL UPDATE

First therapy to target damage after heart attack could transform field. After a heart attack, much of the damage to the heart muscle is caused by inflammatory cells that rush to the scene of the oxygen-starved tissue.

2014/01/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Measuring creatine levels with MRI has benefits over contrast-enhanced MRI and MRS. A new MRI method to map creatine at higher resolutions in the heart may help clinicians and scientists find abnormalities and disorders earlier than traditional diagnostic methods, researchers suggest in a new study published online in Nature Medicine. The preclinical findings show an advantage over less sensitive tests and point to a safer and more cost-effective approach than those with radioactive or contrasting agents.

2014/01/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Our defences against infection can be weaknesses in causing cancer. Scientists have discovered a genetic signature that implicates a key mechanism in the immune system as a driving force for a type of childhood leukaemia.

2014/01/22MEDICAL UPDATE

For some, it's the tradition of steeping tealeaves to brew the perfect cup of tea. For others, it's the morning shuffle to a coffee maker for a hot jolt of java. Then there are those who like their wake up with the kind of snap and a fizz usually found in a carbonated beverage.

2014/01/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Eating high levels of flavonoids including anthocyanins and other compounds (found in berries, tea, and chocolate) could offer protection from type 2 diabetes - according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and King's College London.

2014/01/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers in Sweden have found an association between a person's fitness as a teenager and their risk of heart attack in later life. In a study of nearly 750,000 men, they found that the more aerobically fit men were in late adolescence, the less likely they were to have a heart attack 30 or 40 years later.

2014/01/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers found a novel approach to predict outcomes in heart failure patients by imaging impaired energy metabolism in a diseased heart. Researchers have identified a new method to determine whether a patient's heart will fail, which in the future may help physicians better treat patients and tailor therapeutic interventions.

2014/01/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - While early stem cell transplantation in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma does not improve overall survival in intermediate/high-risk patients, early transplantation appears to be benefit a small group of high-risk patients, researchers reported on Oct. on Oct 30, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2014/01/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Women who have undergone bariatric surgery are more likely to give birth to premature babies and to babies who are small for gestational age, researchers reported in the British Medical Journal on Nov. 12, 2013.

2014/01/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Prophylactic use of the breast cancer drug anastrozole for five years reduced by 53% the development of breast cancer in post-menopausal women at high risk for the disease, researchers reported in the Lancet on Dec.12, 2013.

2014/01/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Gabapentin, a treatment for epilepsy and neuropathic pain, appears to be safe and effective for treating alcohol dependence, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine on November 4, 2013.

2014/01/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Abatacept, an FDA-approved treatment of rheumatoid arthritis could become the first targeted therapy for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a condition that usually causes kidney failure, researchers Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston reported online on Nov. 8 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2014/01/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - An investigative drug could offer the first safe and effective treatment for psychotic symptoms that affect about half of people with Parkinson's disease, researchers reported in the Oct. 31, 2013 issue of the Lancet

2014/01/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Long-term treatment with some prescription heartburn and ulcer medications appears to be related to an increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, researchers reported on Dec. 10, 2013 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2013/12/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients in a vegetative state are awake, breathe on their own, and seem to go in and out of sleep. But they do not respond to what is happening around them and exhibit no signs of conscious awareness. With communication impossible, friends and family are left wondering if the patients even know they are there.

2013/12/30MEDICAL UPDATE

Academic researchers have found that breathing motor vehicle emissions triggers a change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, altering its cardiovascular protective qualities so that it actually contributes to clogged arteries.

2013/12/23MEDICAL UPDATE

New research from a University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital (UH Rainbow) study found that children ages 1 to 3 years accounted for one-fifth of all emergency department (ED) visits caused by complications from asthma, representing the highest proportion of visits among asthma patients under age 21.

2013/12/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with an increased risk of developing cerebral microbleeds, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. Cerebral microbleeds are a marker of cerebral small vessel disease, an important cause of age-related disability and cognitive decline.

2013/12/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Israeli soldiers captured during the 1973 Yom Kippur War were subjected to brutal torture in Egypt and Syria. Held alone in tiny, filthy spaces for weeks or months, sometimes handcuffed and blindfolded, they suffered severe beatings, burns, electric shocks, starvation, and worse. And rather than receiving treatment, additional torture was inflicted on existing wounds.

2013/12/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Faced with inevitable pain, most people choose to "get it out of the way" as soon as possible, according to research published this week in PLOS Computational Biology. In the study, participants chose between real painful stimuli in the form of electric shocks, and imagined painful dental appointments occurring at different times in the future.

2013/12/16MEDICAL UPDATE

A ground-breaking international collaborative survey, published today in Annals of Oncology, shows that more than half of the world's population live in countries where regulations that aim to stem drug misuse leave cancer patients without access to opioid medicines for managing cancer pain.

2013/12/16MEDICAL UPDATE

How do you measure the pain of a patient who can't communicate? A Rhode Island Hospital researcher studied an observational pain scale in cardiac surgery patients, and found that the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) provided an accurate measure of a patient's pain level.

2013/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Understanding the science behind pain, from a simple "ouch" to the chronic and excruciating, has been an elusive goal for centuries. But now, researchers are reporting a promising step toward studying pain in action.

2013/12/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A new analysis of over 1 million hospital admissions in US hospitals revealed that over half of all nonsurgical patients were prescribed opioids during their hospitalizations, many at high doses, and over half of opioid-treated patients were receiving such medications when they were discharged.

2013/12/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Diabetic patients have an increased risk of developing breast and colon cancer and an increased risk of death from these cancers, researchers reported on Sept. 27, 2013 at 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013).

2013/12/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A routine flu vaccine appears to lower the risk of heart attack or stroke by more than 50 per cent among persons who have had a heart attack, researchers reported on Oct. 22, 2013 in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2013/12/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with COPD have trouble pushing used air out of their lungs, making it difficult to take in healthy new air. Although there is no cure for COPD, a patient's quality of life can be improved by controlling symptoms, such as shortness of breath.

2013/12/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that an experimental cancer drug which has shown efficacy in treating melanoma also shows promise in treating non-small cell lung cancer, a leading cause of cancer death among men and women worldwide.

2013/12/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Discussion of the abstract by Dr Christopher Lieu, MD, Assistant professor at the University of Colorado. Younger patients with colorectal cancer that has spread (metastasised) to other parts of the body represent a high-risk group that is less likely to respond to anti-cancer treatments.

2013/11/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Peter Mas Mollinedo - Improvements in diagnostics and medical treatments mean the number of patients living with cancer is increasing around the world. The World Health Organization is expecting the rate of cancer to increase by 50% to 15 million new cases in 2020.

2013/11/27MEDICAL UPDATE

by Peter Mas Mollinedo reporting on the presentation by Dominique Elias, Gustave-Roussy Institute, Paris, France. - Aggressive complete cytoreductive surgery (CCRS) in combination with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the recommended treatment option for peritoneal metastases (PMs) of pseudomyxoma and mesothelioma origin, and should be considered in patients with PMs of colorectal origin.

2013/11/27MEDICAL UPDATE

LM Wiltink, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands; Hans-Joachim Schmoll, Martin Luther University Halle – Wittenberg, Germany. A unique 14-year follow-up study from the universities of Leiden in the Netherlands and Aarhus in Denmark shows that although radiation therapy prior to excision of CRC reduces the risk of local recurrence, patients pay a considerable price in terms of long-term quality of life.

2013/11/26MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. In a clinical trial, a self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve met the key performance objective of reducing death and stroke in patients with severe aortic stenosis at “extreme risk” for surgery.

2013/11/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. A new study found that both drug-eluting stents (DES) with biocompatible polymers and DES with biodegradable polymers were associated with low major adverse coronary events, demonstrating the non-inferiority of the biocompatible polymer stents in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

2013/11/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. Length of infection increases risk for atherosclerosis. HIV infection, not antiretroviral therapy (ART), is associated with risk for atherosclerosis in patients with no history of smoking, particularly those infected for eight years or more.

2013/11/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. Clinical trial finds that a strategy of using of a bare metal stent in the side branch for true bifurcation coronary lesions is safe, but does not meet non-inferiority endpoint compared to provisional stenting.

2013/11/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. A clinical trial shows that rapidly cooling patients who have suffered ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI, the most serious form of a heart attack) prior to restoring blood flow is safe and feasible.

2013/11/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Report from the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Scientific Symposium, 27 October - 1 November, San Francisco. Results of the EUROMAX trial presented at TCT 2013; findings simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/11/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Combined use of three DMARDs (disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs) for recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is more effective than methotrexate monotherapy, researchers reported at the American College of Rheumatology 2013 Annual Scientific Meeting.

2013/11/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) undergoing early and aggressive combination drug therapy achieve clinical inactive disease more quickly than with less aggressive therapy, researchers reported at the American College of Rheumatology 2013 Annual Meeting.

2013/11/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Treatment of psoriatic arthritis with early, aggressive pharmacologic intervention with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) while utilizing a a treat-to-target approach achieves better outcomes than standard care, researchers reported at the American College of Rheumatology 2013 Annual Meeting.

2013/11/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the BMJ - British Medical Journal - Patients prescribed the smoking cessation drugs varenicline and buproprian are not at an increased risk of suicide, self-harm and depression compared with users of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) researchers reported on Oct. 11, 2013 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

2013/11/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Lancet - An investigative, single-pill combination drug shows efficacy for treating patients with the most difficult-to-treat types of hepatitis C, researchers reported on Nov. 5, 2013 in The Lancet.

2013/11/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association - A retrospective analysis of data on Danish women exposed to the nausea medication metoclopramide in pregnancy shows that the drug is not associated with a significantly increased risk of major congenital malformations, spontaneous abortion, and stillbirth.

2013/11/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) - Addition of nab-paclitaxel to gemcitabine for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer has resulted in significantly higher survival among patients when compared to those who received gemcitabine monotherapy.

2013/11/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Investigators reported on Oct. 22 in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) that treatment with adalimumab may be effective for patients with steroid-resistant refractory pediatric uveitis.

2013/11/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Cholesterol lowering statin therapy appears to also reduce inflammation associated with gum disease, researchers reported on Oct. 2, 2013 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2013/11/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A newly published meta-analysis suggests that influenza vaccination lowers the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events like heart failure or hospitalization for heart attack, and the greatest protective effect appeared among patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS), such as heart attack or unstable angina.

2013/11/08MEDICAL UPDATE

World Psoriasis Day is 29 October 2013. World Psoriasis Day is held today with the theme “Global access to treatment” to highlight the fact that more than 125 million people have psoriasis but not all have access to treatment.

2013/11/07MEDICAL UPDATE

These activities as good as exercise because they decrease total sedentary time. A spot of DIY or gardening can cut the risk of a heart attack/stroke and prolong life by as much as 30 per cent among the 60+ age group, indicates research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

2013/11/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Smokers and former smokers show a lower pain tolerance than people who have never smoked, according to a Norwegian study based on experimental pain induced by cold water. It was presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence. A study from Scotland has demonstrated a link between pain sensitivity, smoking and depression.

2013/11/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic pain patients show a strong placebo effect. Positive earlier experience with pain medication appears to play an important role in this context.These were the findings of a German study presented at the EFIC Congress in Florence.

2013/11/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Social rejection and marginalisation do not only cause emotional pain but also show impact on sensory dimensions of physical pain. This is demonstrated by a new study from Portugal, which was presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence.

2013/11/01MEDICAL UPDATE

Prenatal music exposure leads to long-lasting changes in the brain after birth. Playing music while you're pregnant may influence your child's auditory system, according to new research published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eino Partanen and colleagues at the University of Helsinki.

2013/11/01MEDICAL UPDATE

A large majority of chronic pain patients makes extensive use of the Internet to search for information about their condition, and many go back to their physician to discuss what they have found out, according to a Swiss study presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence.

2013/10/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Pain is more intense after a meal than when hungry, according to a University of Liverpool study presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence. The mechanism appears to be a “competition" between the eating drive and pain in cortical processes.

2013/10/31MEDICAL UPDATE

The spouses of people suffering from chronic pain not only face an elevated risk of developing pain themselves. There is also a relationship between symptoms of helplessness, anxiety and depression in pain sufferers and in their caregivers. These points are highlighted by a number of studies presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence.

2013/10/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A new meta-analysis of clinical trials evaluating the use of statin medications to prevent heart attacks suggests that the drugs do not threaten short-term memory and might protect against dementia when used over one year. The findings appear in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings posted online on October 1, 2013

2013/10/28MEDICAL UPDATE

In part, women and men differ from each other considerably not only in the way they perceive and cope with pain and in various comorbidities. Therapies can also have different effects depending on gender. A number of studies reported on at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence pointed out gender differences regarding pain.

2013/10/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with an increased risk of developing cerebral microbleeds, according to a new study. Cerebral microbleeds are a marker of cerebral small vessel disease, an important cause of age-related disability and cognitive decline.

2013/10/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Pavel Trunečka, Prague, Czech Republic - Starting on a low dose of prolonged-release, once-daily tacrolimus after liver transplantation achieved better renal function and a significantly lower risk of acute rejection over 24 weeks than starting on a standard dose of once-daily tacrolimus, either immediately post-transplant or after a five-day delay.

2013/10/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Re-transplantation is the only option available for salvaging a failed abdominal graft. As the outcomes after primary transplantations continue to improve, even with the increasing use of extended-criteria donors, the demand for re-transplantation is set to increase.

2013/10/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Heinrich Schima, Vienna, Austria - In the last decades, ventricular-assist devices (VADs) – artificial hearts – have gone from pioneering experiments to offering a real alternative to heart transplantation for a large proportion of patients on the waiting list.

2013/10/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Invasive microbial infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in organ transplantation patients. The satellite symposia sponsored by Astellas Pharma at ESOT 2013 discussed the challenge of managing candidaemia and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in transplant recipients.

2013/10/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Randall Morris, San Francisco, USA - Failure to make therapeutic progress is a real challenge in the transplantation field. On the face of it, the goals set up by clinicians for themselves and their patients – to develop safer and more effective means to increase the number of transplantations and recipient survival, at less effort and cost – should be achievable in the modern era.

2013/10/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Richard Trompeter, London, UK; Jo Wray, London, UK; Lorraine Bell, Montreal, Canada - The transition from paediatric to adult transplantation services is a major challenge for adolescent transplant recipients which may have a dramatic impact on adherence, quality of life, and in the longer term, clinical outcomes and treatment costs.

2013/10/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Andreas Tzakis , Weston, USA - Advances in vascular reconstruction techniques in recent years has transformed the concept of multi-visceral or cluster transplantations from the very forefront of surgery to routine procedures with excellent long-term outcomes.

2013/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Reducing or eliminating the need for chronic immunosuppressive therapy by inducing tolerance in the recipient immune system would have an astounding impact on clinical practice and scientists all over the world are working tirelessly to find the ‘magic bullet’ immunotolerance protocol .

2013/10/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Donor-specific anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies, or DSAs, have emerged in recent years as one of the most important factors for predicting the outcome of solid organ transplantations.

2013/10/15MEDICAL UPDATE

by Mr Nizam Mamode (pictured) - This year’s European Society for Organ Transplantation meeting, held in Vienna, saw a concerted attempt at providing a high quality congress for those who sought an alternative to the long flight west for the American Transplant Congress.

2013/10/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Living close to a busy road is associated with a higher risk of death in people with bronchiectasis. A new study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona has added to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the damaging effects of road-side pollution.

2013/10/11MEDICAL UPDATE

17th ECCO – 38th ESMO – 32nd ESTRO - European Cancer Congress, Amsterdam RAI, 27 Sept – 1 Oct 2013.
Eribulin represents a novel class of antineoplastic agents which targets the microtubule during a critical stage of the cell division process. Eribulin is licensed for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer in patients who have progressed after at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for advanced disease, and whose previous treatment has included included an anthracycline and a taxane.

2013/10/11MEDICAL UPDATE

A major new publication from the European Respiratory Society (ERS) ahead of its annual congress, shows that lung conditions are responsible for 1 in 10 of all deaths across Europe, with deaths due to lung cancer and COPD predicted to rise over the coming decades.

2013/10/11MEDICAL UPDATE

The first ever trial to compare e-cigarettes with nicotine patches has found that both methods result in comparable success in quitting, with roughly similar proportions of smokers who used either method remaining abstinent from smoking for six months after a 13 week course of patches or e-cigarettes.

2013/10/10MEDICAL UPDATE

European asthma project sheds light on the characteristics of a poorly understood condition. People with severe asthma, who are often described as 'steroid-dependent', are actually less likely to respond to the treatment they depend on, when compared to people with mild asthma.

2013/10/10MEDICAL UPDATE

A doctor from the UK has shown how an innovative music video can help increase awareness of how to treat asthma. Dr Tapas Mukherjee, from Glenfield Hospital in the UK, produced and starred in a music video to draw attention to new guidelines showing a better way of managing asthma.

2013/10/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Asthma is still a serious public health issue affecting approximately 30 million people in Western Europe at a cost of around 17.7 billion Euro. There are efficacious treatments available that have been proven in clinical trials however real world treatment of asthma is still sub-optimal.

2013/10/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Investigators suggest caution in prescribing inhaled corticosteroids to high-risk patients such as pneumonia survivors, after their research shows a twofold risk for repeat infection.

2013/10/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Abnormalities in brain axons predispose people to chronic back pain after injury. Abnormalities in the structure of the brain predispose people to develop chronic pain after a lower back injury, according to new research. The findings could lead to changes in the way physicians treat patients' pain.

2013/10/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Physicians and nursing staff show relatively high support for euthanasia when asked abstractly whether they would wish it for themselves if they had a lethal illness.However, only a small percentage can imagine being involved in euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide for their own patients.

2013/10/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Research suggests that a patient's chronic pain affects a spouse's emotional well-being and marital satisfaction. In a novel study of behavioral health outcomes published in the journal PAIN®, researchers examined the effects of patients' daily knee osteoarthritis pain on their spouses' nightly sleep.

2013/09/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Using large and frequent doses of the pain-killer codeine may actually produce heightened sensitivity to pain, without the same level of relief offered by morphine, according to new research from the University of Adelaide.

2013/09/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Research presented on September 26, 2013 the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting in Barcelona, Spain, indicates that type 2 diabetes patients receiving first-line sulfonylurea treatment have significantly higher mortality than those receiving metformin.

2013/09/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Alogliptin treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes and with high cardiovascular risk due to recent acute coronary syndromes has led to similar rates of cardiovascular events as placebo treatment, according to results of the Examination of Cardiovascular Outcomes with Alogliptin versus Standard of Care (EXAMINE) trial presented in Amsterdam on Sept 2, 2013 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.

2013/09/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Low BMI is a risk factor for CVD in hypertensive patients with diabetes, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today by Dr Takanori Nagahiro from Japan. The findings provide evidence for an obesity paradox in hypertensive patients with glucose intolerance.

2013/09/25MEDICAL UPDATE

The anti-inflammatory agent colchicine -- used mostly in the treatment of gout -- appears to be effective for treating acute pericarditis and in preventing recurrences of the condition, researchers reported here.

2013/09/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that, after a decade when prescription opioid use has grown dramatically, identification and treatment of pain has not improved, and, notably, the use of non-opioid analgesics has leveled out.

2013/09/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Some of the most important studies presented at ESC Congress 2013, included :
HOKUSAI-VTE: The oral anticoagulant edoxaban for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) resulted in equal efficacy and better safety compared to standard warfarin, when either drug was used with initial low molecular weight heparin (LMWH)

2013/09/20MEDICAL UPDATE

A review of the presentation by Professor David Cunningham (pictured), London, UK. The risk profile of rectal tumours varies with the position and profile of the disease. David Cunningham pointed out that there are advantages and disadvantage to radiotherapy in this setting.

2013/09/19MEDICAL UPDATE

A review of the presentation by Dermot O’Toole (pictured), Trinity College, Dublin. The incidence of Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) has increased in recent years. The incidence is higher in Asia than in EU and is higher in black and Asian populations.

2013/09/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Review of the presentation by HJ Schmoll EORTC GI Group. [Preoperative chemoradiotherapy with capecitabine and oxaliplatin vs capecitabine alone in locally advanced rectal cancer: response to the local treatment after chemoradiation and surgery as secondary endpoint]

2013/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

'Big 4' Journal Highlights - New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) - by Bruce Sylvester - Research published on Aug. 7, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine/NEJM indicates that elevated blood sugar levels are associated with increasing dementia risk, even when there is no diagnosis of diabetes.

2013/09/16MEDICAL UPDATE

A review of the presentation by Sabine Tejpar. The KRAS (codon 12,13) is a validated predictive biomarker in mCRC, it is essential to determine diagnosis and required prior to treatment with anti –EGFR agents.

2013/09/16MEDICAL UPDATE

'Big 4' Journal Highlights - The Lancet - by Bruce Sylvester - Opioid dependence leads in causing death and illness among all illicitly used drugs, researchers report. The results of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 appeared online in The Lancet on August 28, 2013.

2013/09/13MEDICAL UPDATE

'Big 4' Journal Highlights - Journal of the American Medical (JAMA) - by Bruce Sylvester -Among patients with unfavorable treatment characteristics, treating chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection with the interferon-free regimen of sofosbuvir and ribavirin has resulted in a high sustained virologic response rate, researchers reported on August 28, 2013 in of the Journal of the American Medical Association/JAMA.

2013/09/13MEDICAL UPDATE

A review of the presentation by Volker Heinemann (pictured). The decision on first line treatment in mCRC matters because the number of patients benefitting from therapy diminishes with subsequent lines. The efficacy of treatment depends on the agents used and is critical to the overall survival (OS) of patients.

2013/09/12MEDICAL UPDATE

'Big 4' Journal Highlights - British Medical Journal (BMJ) - by Bruce Sylvester - Children of obese mothers are more likely to die before age 55 than children of normal weight mothers, researchers reported on August 13, 2013 in the British Medical Journal/BMJ.

2013/09/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Pam Harrison -
MSI status has clear prognostic value in stage II CRC
Julien Taieb, MD, PhD, University of Paris Descartes, Paris, France
Microsatellite instability (MSI), a molecular marker of defective DNA mismatch repair (dMMR), should be determined in all patients 60 years of age and under with colorectal cancer (CRC) as it has clear prognostic value in those with stage II CRC as well as in patients with Lynch syndrome.

2013/09/11MEDICAL UPDATE

2013/09/11MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - China - An international team of scientists has found that over 90% of dementia cases in China go undetected, with the highest level of undiagnosed cases in rural areas.

2013/09/10MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters by Gary Finnegan - Spain - A gene variant strongly associated with the development of type 2 diabetes appears to interact with a Mediterranean diet pattern to prevent stroke, according to a new study.

2013/09/09MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - Australia - by Gary Finnegan - Half of all formal complaints made to health ombudsmen in Australia concern just 3% of the country’s doctors, with 1% accounting for a quarter of all complaints, according to research published in BMJ Quality & Safety.

2013/09/04MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - A new Healthcare Professionals’ Working Party (HCPWP) has been created by the European Medicines Agency in an effort to secure greater input from frontline medical staff.

2013/09/03MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) must perform a delicate balancing act as it finds itself centre stage in the on-going debate about the publication of clinical trial data.

2013/08/29MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report from a phase I clinical trial report that diffuse, large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) resistant to chemotherapy have been successfully reprogrammed to respond to azacitidine therapy.

2013/08/28MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Misoprostol vaginal insert used for labor induction has significantly reduced time to vaginal delivery compared with dinoprostone vaginal insert, researchers reported at the European Congress on Intrapartum Care held in Amsterdam in May 2013.

2013/08/26MEDICAL UPDATE

Mobile health technology has substantial potential for improving access to health care in the developing world and in remote regions of developed countries, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

2013/08/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Johns Hopkins researchers see 21-fold increase in a single day. A social media push boosted the number of people who registered themselves as organ donors 21-fold in a single day, Johns Hopkins researchers found, suggesting social media might be an effective tool to address the stubborn organ shortage in the United States.

2013/08/22MEDICAL UPDATE

A new study links fetal exposure to a common chemical pollutant, bisphenol A (BPA), to defects of a testicular hormone in newborn boys with undescended testicles. The results suggest yet another potential harmful effect of BPA, which is widely used in many plastics, liners of food cans and dental sealants.

2013/08/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients who are otherwise completely unable to communicate can answer yes or no questions within seconds with the help of a simple system—consisting of just a laptop and camera—that measures nothing but the size of their pupils.

2013/08/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Inflammatory joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are the result of cartilage damage and loss. Chondrocytes are the only cells that are found in cartilage and their death is linked to decreased cartilage health.

2013/08/14MEDICAL UPDATE

There are some smells we all find revolting. But toward a handful of odors, different people display different sensitivities—some can smell them, while some can't, or some find them appealing, while others don't.

2013/08/12MEDICAL UPDATE

But different types of happiness have different effects, UCLA study shows. A good state of mind — that is, your happiness — affects your genes, scientists say. In the first study of its kind, researchers examined how positive psychology impacts human gene expression.

2013/08/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Mandating outpatient treatment for certain people with severe mental illness, while controversial, results in substantial cost savings by cutting hospitalizations and increasing outpatient care, according to a financial analysis led by researchers at Duke Medicine.

2013/08/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Some studies of at-risk populations suggest that up to half of the people tested for HIV never return to the doctor's office to find out their test results. While many of these people may simply forget to return or deem the results unimportant, it is likely that a portion of people don't return because they don't want to know the results.

2013/08/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with diabetes who take certain types of medications to lower their blood sugar sometimes experience severe low blood sugar levels, whether or not their diabetes is poorly or well controlled, according to a new study by.

2013/08/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Newly published research suggests that a derivative of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), found in over-the-counter fish oil supplements, might be used to effectively treat and prevent neuropathic pain caused by injuries to the sensory system.

2013/08/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Climate change is affecting the spread of infectious diseases worldwide, according to an international team of leading disease ecologists, with serious impacts to human health and biodiversity conservation.

2013/08/02MEDICAL UPDATE

People with mental illnesses are more than seven times more likely to usecannabis weekly compared to people without a mental illness, according to researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) who studied U.S. data.

2013/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia in young people. But the evidence for the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis remains controversial. A new study has determined that it may be necessary to stop thousands of cannabis users in order to prevent a single case of schizophrenia.

2013/07/30MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - The combination of obesity and low vitamin D deficiency appears to cause a greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, researchers reported on July 17 online in Diabetes Care.

2013/07/29MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester - In a 3-decade study of adults recruited in the United States, researchers report positive correlations between durations of overall obesity and abdominal obesity and rates of coronary artery calcification, a subclinical predictor of coronary heart disease.

2013/07/26MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is related to an increased risk of cerebral microbleeds, researchers from the Netherlands reported online on July 19, 2013 in the Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

2013/07/25MEDICAL UPDATE

2013/07/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Similar trends found in UK, Australia and US. Missed diagnoses―particularly of cancer, heart attack, and meningitis―and drug errors make up the bulk of malpractice claims brought against doctors in primary care, finds an analysis of published data in the online journal BMJ Open.

2013/07/24MEDICAL UPDATE

This is despite national downward trends in alcohol mortality, says authors. There has been a "worrying" increase in alcohol related deaths among young women in England and Scotland, since the middle of the last decade, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

2013/07/24MEDICAL UPDATE

The scientific community have long debated the causal relationship betweencannabis use and the risk factor for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. Both sides of this controversial subject are put forward in two articles published today in F1000 Medicine Reports. To give rise to the debate, the authors of each article were given the opportunity to read the opposing side's article drafts and consider their arguments when structuring their own article.

2013/07/24MEDICAL UPDATE

A new study reveals significant hospital-to-hospital variability in patient death rates following emergency surgical admissions in England. Published early online in the BJS (British Journal of Surgery), the study also found that survival rates were higher in hospitals with better resources.

2013/07/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Research shows that sight, smell and consumption of healthy food can help dieters to reduce their food intake. Many dieters' experience difficulty adhering to diet plans when faced with the temptation to eat tempting energy dense foods.

2013/07/19MEDICAL UPDATE

A review of the presentation by Jaume Capdevila, Barcelona Spain. Unfortunately Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are often advanced at the time of diagnosis and the 5 year survival ranges from 30-50%. In pancreatic NETs (pNETs) oncologic radical surgery should be the standard of care.

2013/07/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Children whose mothers took antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) while pregnant are at increased risk of early development issues, according to a new study published in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE).

2013/07/17MEDICAL UPDATE

The new study, which was led by Professor Carol Brayne, of the Cambridge Institute of Public Health (CIPH), University of Cambridge, UK, is part of the Medical Research Council (MRC) funded Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies (CFAS), a large, collaborative set of studies looking at different aspects of health and cognitive function in older people across two decades in different regions of the UK.

2013/07/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Poster 67 Elizabeth Goode elizabeth.goode@nnuh.nhs.uk. Chemotherapy is an independent risk factor for thromboembolism (TE), although current guidelines do not recommend routine use of anti-thrombin agents in this setting.

2013/07/16MEDICAL UPDATE

New research from a study of over 73,000 patients. People with high blood pressure, who don't take their anti-hypertensive drug treatments when they should, have a greatly increased risk of suffering a stroke and dying from it compared to those who take their medication correctly.

2013/07/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from JAMA - by Bruce Sylvester - After analyzing data on nearly 60,000 patients with acute ischemic stroke, researchers report that thrombolytic treatment initiated sooner correlates to a reduced incidence of in-hospital mortality and intracranial hemorrhage, and to higher rates of independent walking ability at discharge and discharge to home. The study appeared in the June 19, 2013 issue of JAMA.

2013/07/11MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the NEJM - by Bruce Sylvester - Three biomarkers in the urine of kidney transplant recipients can be used to diagnose and predict transplant rejection, researchers from a clinical trial sponsored by the (US) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NASID) reported on July 4, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/07/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the BMJ - by Bruce Sylvester - The most common type of eating disorder diagnosed in the UK is not bulimia or anorexia, but, rather, “eating disorders not otherwise specified,” researchers reported online on May 20, 2013 in BMJ Open.

2013/07/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the Lancet - by Bruce Sylvester - High doses of some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase the risk of major vascular events (non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, and death) by about a third, researchers reported in the Lancet Online First on May 29, 2013

2013/07/08MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Lexapro (escitalopram), which is used to treat depression and anxiety, appears to improve a stress-related heart condition in persons with stable coronary heart disease.

2013/07/08MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that finasteride appears to reduce alcohol consumption in some men. The results were published online on June 13, 2013 by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

2013/07/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Four new biomarkers have been identified that can help in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), particularly among the one-third of patients who test negative for currently recognized auto antibodies, a researcher reported.

2013/07/05MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Bazedoxifene, approved in Europe to treat osteoporosis, appears to stop the growth of breast cancer cells, even in therapy-resistant tumors, researchers from the Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, report.

2013/07/04MEDICAL UPDATE

New study finds those living close to the equator are at higher risk. Those living near the equator may find themselves sneezing and wheezing more than usual. And the reason may not be due to increasing pollen counts.

2013/07/02MEDICAL UPDATE

First non-drug, FDA approved therapy for severe asthma. Nearly 24 million people in the US suffer from asthma. For most of them, avoiding allergens and taking medications help keep their asthma under control.

2013/07/01MEDICAL UPDATE

Asking three simple questions of patients with non-inflammatory musculoskeletal pain improved primary care physicians' ability to predict which patients would still be in pain 6 months later, a study found.

2013/06/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Trend toward more cancers and more deaths among heart failure patients. Heart failure patients are surviving more often with the heart condition but they are increasingly more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, a trend that could be attributed to increased surveillance, side effects of treatments, or other causes, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2013/06/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Study Raises Concerns about Impact on Patient Care and Safety. Residents in anesthesiology training programs have high rates of burnout and depression, reports a survey study in the July issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

2013/06/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Elizabeth C. Smyth, MB, BCh, MSc, and David Cunningham, MD, FRCP, FMedSci - In 2000, in order to optimise service provision for patients with cancer, 34 “Cancer Service Networks” were established in England to instigate change and improve outcomes in geographically defined areas (three more were developed in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland).

2013/06/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Jamie Von Roenn, MD, and Charles von Gunten, MD, PhD - The call to integrate palliative care practices and principles into comprehensive cancer care, not as something that happens after treatment is over but as a standard component of optimal oncology care, is growing louder.

2013/06/21MEDICAL UPDATE

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) kicked off its 49th Annual Meeting with leaders urging all stakeholders in cancer care to vigorously oppose cuts to vital US biomedical research funding.

2013/06/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Human sleeping and waking patterns are largely governed by an internal circadian clock that corresponds closely with the 24-hour cycle of light and darkness. This circadian clock also controls other body functions, such as metabolism and temperature regulation.

2013/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Both the UK and Canada have experienced huge falls in diabetes-related mortality since the mid-1990s, with the result that the gap in mortality risk between those with and without diabetes has narrowed substantially.

2013/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

CHICAGO – The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has completed the first phase in developing several sets of interoperability standards for cancer care data and overcoming the widespread inconsistencies that currently limit secure sharing of information between providers, patients and researchers.

2013/06/20MEDICAL UPDATE

CHICAGO – New advances against melanoma, ovarian cancer, and colorectal cancer care were presented today at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Researchers also announced reassuring findings on HPV infection among partners of patients with HPV-positive head and neck cancers.

2013/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

New research analysing breast cancer mortality data spanning almost 40 years concludes that breast cancer screening does not yet show an effect on mortality statistics. The research, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, analysed mortality trends before and after the introduction of the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme in 1988.

2013/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Problem is worsening; time to include pregnant women in drug trials, says DTB. The lack of hard data on the safety and effectiveness of a wide range of drugs in pregnancy has hindered the treatment of pregnant women, contributing to a doubling of deaths amongst mums-to-be with an underlying health problem over the past 20 years, argues an editorial in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB).

2013/06/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Menopause caused by male preference for younger mates. A study published in this week's PLOS Computational Biology reports that menopause is an unintended outcome of natural selection caused by the preference of males for younger female mates.

2013/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Patients with an advanced kind of lung cancer and a dysfunctional ALK gene have achieved better outcomes with the targeted investigative therapy crizotinib rather than with standard chemotherapy, researchers reported on June 1, 2013 at ASCO. The findings were also published online on June 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) researchers from the AMAROS (After Mapping of the Axilla: Radiotherapy Or Surgery?) trial reported at ASCO on June 3, 2013 that both axillary lymph node dissection and axillary radiotherapy provide good regional control in breast cancer with a positive sentinel node biopsy result.

2013/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - More than half of patients with metastatic melanoma treated with the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab and the investigational antibody drug nivolumab have achieved durable tumor shrinkage, according to results from a Phase I trial, presented at ASCO on June 2, 2013. It was also published online on the same day by The New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/06/10MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - over 30,000 clinicians and researchers attended the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2013 annual meeting in Chicago on May 31-June 4. Among the most exciting and groundbreaking studies presented at the meeting are those featured here. They include news about targeted therapy and immunotherapy, as well as a new potential use for sorafenib (Nexavar) to treat advanced thyroid cancer.

2013/06/07MEDICAL UPDATE

by Peter Mas Mollinedo - Investigators report that the link between asthma and early childhood use of acetaminophen or ibuprofen could be the result of underlying respiratory infections, and not use of these the drugs.

2013/06/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Peter Mas Mollinedo - Vegetarians have a 32% lower risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease than persons who eat meat and fish, researchers from the University of Oxford (UK) reported on January 30, 2013 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

2013/06/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Peter Mas Mollinedo - Investigators report that current marijuana users have achieved significantly lower fasting insulin, and are less likely than non-users to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Their findings are published in the May 15 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

2013/06/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Nine thousand clinicians gathered at the 2013 annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver/International Liver Congress in Amsterdam on April 24-28, 2013. Findings from Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in hepatitis C dominated the news from the meeting.

2013/06/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Mind-body intervention can help to regulate stress hormone levels. Practicing a form of meditation and stretching can help relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and normalize stress hormone levels, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

2013/05/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Gestation diabetes risk can be identified through biomarker levels during first trimester. Levels of a biomarker in a pregnant woman's blood can help physicians gauge her risk of developing gestational diabetes during the first trimester, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

2013/05/29MEDICAL UPDATE

Nocturia significantly increased mortality risk in men and women, according to data from a government health survey. Overall, awakening more than twice a night to urinate increased mortality risk by 50% in men and by more than 30% among women. Nocturia doubled the mortality risk of people younger than 65, and the effect was independent of comorbidities.

2013/05/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Bruise Control trial found that patients who were operated on without interrupting warfarin were 80 percent less likely to develop a significant hematoma after surgery compared to patients who were bridged with heparin.

2013/05/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Results of late breaking trials presented at Heart Failure 2013. Serelaxin may be more effective for relieving dyspnea in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) than reduced (HFrEF) during the first 24 hours, according to results from RELAX-AHF presented at the late breaking trial session1 at the Heart Failure Congress 2013.

2013/05/27MEDICAL UPDATE

Antibiotics for acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) are prescribed frequently - especially for younger adult patients and in primary care settings - despite recent consensus guidelines that discourage antibiotic use in mild cases, according to a study in the May 2013 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

2013/05/27MEDICAL UPDATE

JoVE will publish research that demonstrates how a biosensor can detect antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This new technology is a preliminary step in identifying and fighting superbugs, a major public health concern that has led to more deaths than AIDS in the United States in recent years.

2013/05/23MEDICAL UPDATE

A study showed that low serum vitamin D levels are a risk factor for pneumonia. The risk of contracting pneumonia was more than 2.5 times greater in subjects with the lowest vitamin D levels than in subjects with high vitamin D levels. The results were published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

2013/05/23MEDICAL UPDATE

The American Thoracic Society has released new official clinical practice guidelines on the diagnosis and management of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), the acute airway narrowing that occurs as a result of exercise.

2013/05/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Chalk dust can contain milk protein, triggering respiratory symptoms. Many of today's school teachers opt for dustless chalk to keep hands and classrooms clean. But according to a study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, this choice in chalk may cause allergy and asthma symptoms in students that have a milk allergy.

2013/05/22MEDICAL UPDATE

A bacterial protein in common house dust may worsen allergic responses to indoor allergens, according to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and Duke University. The finding is the first to document the presence of the protein flagellin in house dust, bolstering the link between allergic asthma and the environment.

2013/05/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Groundbreaking study controls for smoking during pregnancy and antisocial parents. Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke in early childhood are more likely to grow up to physically aggressive and antisocial, regardless of whether they were exposed during pregnancy or their parents have a history of being antisocial, according to Linda Pagani and Caroline Fitzpatrick of the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine hospital.

2013/05/20MEDICAL UPDATE

The use of a smartphone application significantly improves patients' preparation for a colonoscopy, according to new research. The preparation process, which begins days in advance of the procedure, includes dietary restrictions and requires specific bowel preparation medication to be taken at strict intervals.

2013/05/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Considered the "silent killer," high blood pressure affects approximately one billion people worldwide. Among the findings from the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) meeting is research that suggests mobile phone calls may cause a rise in blood pressure; yoga may lower it; and despite the need to cut back on sodium to lower blood pressure, hypertensive individuals may have an increased desire for saltier foods.

2013/05/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Most currently available osteoporosis drugs like denosumab are antiresorptive: they curb bone loss by blocking the action of cells that break down bone (osteoclasts) during the normal process of bone remodelling.

2013/05/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Positive findings differ from previous studies on hysterectomy, heart disease risk. Having a hysterectomy with or without ovary removal in mid-life does not increase a woman's risk of cardiovascular disease compared to women who reach natural menopause, contrary to many previously reported studies, according to research published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2013/05/16MEDICAL UPDATE

New research at The University of Nottingham is calling for changes to a government scheme which engages community nurses in the prevention of child abuse and neglect in the home as part of a maternal and child health care programme.

2013/05/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have utilised molecular genetic engineering to optimize heart performance in models of diastolic heart failure by creating an optimized protein that can aid in high-speed relaxation similar to fast twitching muscles.

2013/05/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Rural communities might need different CPR recommendations than urban settings. Hands-only CPR (CPR without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation), may not be the best method for rural or remote areas or for anyone who has to wait more than a few minutes for an ambulance, a new study suggests.

2013/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Fibromyalgia, now recognized as a true health syndrome with origins in the central nervous system, has seen many recent evolutions regarding its diagnosis and management which should instil new approaches, states a review article published in CMAJ.

2013/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

The LAP-BAND® weight loss procedure is safe and effective in an expanded group of patients, not just in people who are morbidly obese. This conclusion is reported in a new study published in the scientific journal Obesity.

2013/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

ATVB 2013 Scientific Sessions new tip. A heart-healthy diet helped men at high risk for heart disease reduce their bad cholesterol, regardless of whether they lost weight, in a study presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2013 Scientific Sessions.

2013/05/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Greater sensitivity, with lower radiation dose, allows for faster treatment, reported at 93rd AATS Annual Meeting. Lung cancer is associated with very high mortality, in part because it is hard to detect at early stages, but also because it can recur frequently after surgical removal.

2013/05/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Every year, thousands of babies are born with severely malformed hearts, disorders known collectively as congenital heart disease. Many of these defects can be repaired though surgery, but researchers don't understand what causes them or how to prevent them.

2013/05/13MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - Patients with an elevated cardiac risk treated with beta-blockers on the day of or day following non-cardiac, non-vascular surgery have achieved significantly lower rates of 30-day mortality and cardiac illness, researchers reported in the April 24, 2013 issue of JAMA.

2013/05/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Dietary nicotine may hold protective key. New research reveals that Solanaceae—a flowering plant family with some species producing foods that are edible sources of nicotine—may provide a protective effect against Parkinson's disease.

2013/05/10MEDICAL UPDATE

A large scale, five year study of mosquitoes from different ecological regions in Kenya, including savannah grassland, semi-arid Acacia thorn bushes, and mangrove swamps, found a reservoir of viruses carried by mosquitoes (arboviruses) that are responsible for human and animal diseases.

2013/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the BMJ - Researchers have reported a significant decline in the proportion of young women diagnosed with genital warts in Australia following the implementation of the national HPV vaccine program. The finding was published by the British Medical Journal online on April 18, 2013.

2013/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

New research shows that growing up in areas where air pollution is increased raises the risk of insulin resistance (the prescursor to diabetes) in children. Previous studies have identified links between air pollution and other chronic conditions such as atherosclerosis and heart disease.

2013/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Lancet - Results from a new retrospective study of data from a large mother-child population in the UK suggest that maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy are not associated with offspring bone health in later life.

2013/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from JAMA - Among non-diabetic adults, smoking cessation compared with continued smoking correlates to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, even with subsequent weight gain. Researchers reported this finding in the March 13 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

2013/05/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Study shows magnesium intake, absorption significantly associated with bone density in children. Parents are advised to make sure their children drink milk and eat other calcium-rich foods to build strong bones.

2013/05/06MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the NEJM - Approximately 90 percent of children who have two copies of a genetic variation and who wheezed when they had a cold (HRV/ rhinovirus) in early childhood developed asthma by age 6, researchers reported on March 28 by the New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/05/03MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (The Netherlands) by Gary Finnegan - Eating while distracted generally makes people eat more without being aware of it, but reducing bite sizes may be able to counter this effect, according to new research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Dr Dieuwerke Bolhuis and colleagues from Wageningen University, Netherlands.

2013/05/03MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (INDIA) by Gary Finnegan - Women in India are more likely to avail of prenatal care when pregnant with boys, according to ground-breaking research that has implications for girls’ survival, health and economic prospects.

2013/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (Japan) by Gary Finnegan - Addiction may result from abnormal brain circuitry in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls decision-making, according to scientists in Japan.

2013/04/26MEDICAL UPDATE

Long-term cortisol exposure in seniors linked to heart disease, stroke. Hair strands contain valuable information about senior citizens' stress levels that can be used to determine an individual's cardiovascular disease risk, according to a recent study.

2013/04/26MEDICAL UPDATE

New research shows that monitoring pain and providing analgesics to patients in intensive care units (ICUs) during non-surgical procedures, such as turning and washing, can not only reduce the amount of pain but also reduce the number of serious adverse events including cardiac arrest.

2013/04/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Steve Woodle, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The future of treatment of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) may lie in proteasome inhibition. Agents such as bortezomib have been shown to be effective for reversing AMR by targeting and depleting the main source of antibody production, namely the mature plasma cell.

2013/04/25MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Anthony Dorling, King’s College London. The presence of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) antibodies in renal transplant recipients is increasingly recognised as an important biomarker of premature graft failure.

2013/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by William McKane, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Declan de Freitas, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Pre-transplant and de novo development of donor-specific HLA antibodies are known to predict poor long-term outcomes in renal transplantation, and the value of HLA surveillance for confirming dysfunction is undisputed.

2013/04/24MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Adam McLean, Hammersmith Hospital, London. Tacrolimus administered once daily in an extended-release formulation is as safe and effective as conventional twice-daily tacrolimus after alemtuzumab induction and early steroid withdrawal. No difference was seen between the two treatment arms in patient or graft survival or rejection rates, and stable tacrolimus plasma levels were established equally quickly in both groups.

2013/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Dion Morton, Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, University of Birmingham & Sir Peter John Morris, Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, Royal College of Surgeons of England.

2013/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Number of cigarettes smoked a day and the number of years a person has smoked both increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy.

2013/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Jamie Davies, University of Edinburgh. Using stem cells to engineer functioning human kidneys that can be used for transplantation remains a distant prospect; however, progress is being made every day which brings it a bit closer. Professor Jamie Davies from Edinburgh presented an overview of the two main avenues of research and the most recent achievements in terms of tissue viability and function.

2013/04/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Risk increases with dose; unrecognised problem, doctors warn. Many competitors try to prevent pain interfering with their performance by taking painkillers that are readily available in pharmacies and supermarkets, say the authors.

2013/04/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Lucrezia Furian, University of Padova, Italy. Donors are getting older and the quality of organs offered to centres for transplantation is dwindling. In kidney transplantation, one alternative is to perform a dual kidney transplantation to compensate for the compromised quality.

2013/04/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Keith Rigg, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. With effect from April 2013, kidney transplantation will be commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board as a specialist service.

2013/04/22MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Philip J Whatling, Royal Free Hospital, London. Patients who go abroad to have transplantations and return to the NHS for aftercare and follow-up may pose a significant threat to UK transplant centres in terms of multi-resistant infections.

2013/04/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Effects reduced by up to 30 percent by low-vitamin D season. For women diagnosed with oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, tamoxifen is an essential drug used in the treatment and prevention of recurring breast cancer.

2013/04/19MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Rajeev Desai, National Health Service Blood and Transplant, Bristol. The risk of cancer transmission via transplanted organs is very low in the UK. Contrary to what some tabloid editors would have their readers believe at times, the risk of receiving an organ where cancer is present at the time of donation is less than 1 in 2,000 cases.

2013/04/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by John Harris, Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester. A thousand patients die every year whilst waiting for a transplant. Thousands more are forced to live their lives virtually imprisoned by the need for regular dialysis.

2013/04/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Declan de Freitas, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. The majority of failed renal grafts can be attributed clinically or histologically to antibody-mediated rejection. In a large proportion of these cases, non-adherence is a major factor in the development of antibodies.

2013/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

In association with A.Menarini Pharmaceuticals Ireland Ltd. and Daiichi Sankyo Ireland Ltd.
By Christine Clark FRPharmS - Hypertension is a long-term condition for which an individual will require treatment over a period of years. The majority of patients will not respond adequately to monotherapy and a combination of drugs is usually required, but this can lead to complex and burdensome regimens.

2013/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic or persistent pain is a common — and likely under-recognised — complication of ischemic strokes (caused by a blocked blood vessel) according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

2013/04/17MEDICAL UPDATE

American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report. Walking briskly can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as running can, according to surprising findings reported in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

2013/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Up to 2009 there is no statistically significant evidence of any reduction in smoking amongst men – and very little evidence of a reduction in smoking amongst women – resulting from the introduction of EU minimum tax legislation in Spain in 2006.

2013/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Results have helped develop first WHO guidelines on potassium intake. Cutting down on salt and, at the same time, increasing levels of potassium in our diet will have major health and cost benefits across the world, according to studies published on bmj.com.

2013/04/15MEDICAL UPDATE

An infusion of glucose, insulin, and potassium (GIK) to patients on the way to the hospital for acute coronary syndromes won't stop a myocardial infarction (MI) but may improve outcomes, a clinical trial determined.

2013/04/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Results from a landmark study of specially formulated niacin in 25,673 high-risk patients appears to have extinguished any clinical role for niacin to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in these patients, researchers said here.

2013/04/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients in the cangrelor group had a significantly lower rate of the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction (MI), ischemia-driven revascularization, and stent thrombosis at 48 hours compared with clopidogrel (4.7% versus 5.9%), according Bhatt and colleagues, who reported the findings online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2013/04/13MEDICAL UPDATE

The use of the direct renin inhibitor aliskiren failed to improve outcomes for patients with stable heart failure at 6 months or at 12 months, researchers reported here at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology.

2013/04/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Fabienne Dobbels, Leuven Hospital, Belgium. The Adherence Measurement in Stable Renal Transplant Patients Following Conversion From Prograf to Advagraf (ADMIRAD) study is the first fully powered adherence intervention study in kidney transplantation patients that has used a rigorous methodology with electronic monitoring of treatment adherence(1).

2013/04/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Foreward by Professor D M Manas (pictured) BSc, MBBCh, MMed, FCS(SA), FRCS(Edin). The burden of chronic liver disease (CLD) continues to grow worldwide and the UK is no exception. Liver transplantation is now part of routine practice and is accepted as treatment for end stage liver failure.

2013/04/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Recent guidelines suggest that NSTEMI patients with elevated troponin levels are recommended for early invasive treatment, but a substantial proportion are still managed without an early invasive procedure.

2013/04/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but up to 60 percent of American young people consistently skip it. Now, Heather Leidy, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, says eating a breakfast rich in protein significantly improves appetite control and reduces unhealthy snacking

2013/04/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Supplement helped control blood-sugar levels in obese youths. Childhood and adolescent obesity rates have increased dramatically in the past three decades. Being obese puts individuals at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, a disease in which individuals have too much sugar in their blood.

2013/04/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers suggest a different method of assessing risk after examining data on 1.3 million Americans. In what promises to be an eye-opener for many doctors and patients who routinely depend on cholesterol testing, a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that the standard formula used for decades to calculate low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels is often inaccurate.

2013/04/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Adolescent type 1 diabetes patients face greater risk for heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure later in life if their transition from paediatric to adult care is not carefully managed, researchers have found.

2013/04/08MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester - Men treated with long-acting (extended release) opioids for chronic pain experience low testosterone levels five times more often than men using short-acting (immediate release ) opioids, researchers reported on January 31, 2013 in The Clinical Journal of Pain.

2013/04/05MEDICAL UPDATE

By Bruce Sylvester - Even with good clinical management of type 2 diabetes, the risk of premature death increases significantly with the onset of kidney disease, researchers reported on Jan. 24, 2014 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

2013/04/04MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - In a study published in PLOS Medicine on January 29, 2013, researchers reported that an increasing risk of future cardiovascular disease and of premature death is associated with increasing severity of male erectile dysfunction (ED). And this finding included men with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

2013/04/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Scotland takes action to tackle relationship between deprivation and CVD. Deprivation represents the "elephant in the room" with regard to cardiovascular disease (CVD), and health care professionals have an important role to play in tackling the problem, delegates heard at a special plenary session opening the EuroHeart Care Congress in Glasgow, Scotland.

2013/04/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Abuse of common anesthetic has ‘rapid downhill course’, reports Journal of Addiction Medicine. Abuse of the anaesthesia drug propofol is a "rapidly progressive form of substance dependence" that is being more commonly seen among health care professionals, reports a study in the April Journal of Addiction Medicine.

2013/04/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Research led by a psychologist at the University of Liverpool has found that using memories of recent meals reduces the amount of food eaten later on. It also found that being distracted when eating leads to increased consumption.

2013/03/29MEDICAL UPDATE

Major journal reports study findings. A study in the JAMA Neurology suggests that controlling or preventing risk factors such as hypertension earlier in life may limit or delay the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease and other age-related neurological deterioration.

2013/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Smoking is a known risk factor for back pain and disc disease. In a new study presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers reviewed smoking cessation rates and related pain in 6,779 patients undergoing treatment for spinal disorders with severe axial (spine) or radicular (leg) pain.

2013/03/27MEDICAL UPDATE

One in 10 say they follow pediatricians' advice 'only occasionally;' most likely to ignore guidance on discipline, sleep, watching TV. Paediatricians regularly dispense advice to parents of young children during well-child visits, but a new poll shows that many aren't following doctors' orders.

2013/03/26MEDICAL UPDATE

It is well known that COPD patients run a higher risk of contracting respiratory infections. However, a new thesis from Lund University in Sweden shows that they are also at higher risk of other bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis (TB) and pneumococcal and staphylococcal infections that can cause serious illness.

2013/03/25MEDICAL UPDATE

2013/03/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Levels of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a key measure of airway inflammation related to asthma, are substantially lower in non-asthmatic younger children than older ones, a researcher said here.

2013/03/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A survey of UK doctors found that 97% have prescribed placebo treatments to patients at least once in their career. Researchers discovered that 97% of doctors have used 'impure' placebo treatments, while 12% have used 'pure' placebos.

2013/03/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have found that macrophages that play a key role in the immune response – also help to both produce and eliminate the body's red blood cells (RBCs). The findings could lead to novel therapies for diseases or conditions in which the red blood cell production is thrown out of balance.

2013/03/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Understanding the molecular underpinnings of an ancient Chinese therapy's success could increase its acceptance by mainstream medicine. While acupuncture is used widely to treat chronic stress, the mechanism of action leading to reported health benefits are not understood.

2013/03/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Severe chronic pain associated with conditions such as bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis often require the use of opioid medication. An alternative treatment strategy increases the levels of a naturally occurring painkiller in and around the nerves that deliver pain signals to the bladder.

2013/03/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Study says early intervention is key to successful treatment of gambling. To successfully treat pathological gambling, you need to intervene at an early stage, according to Susana Jiménez-Murcia from the University Hospital of Bellvitge in Spain and colleagues. Their study shows that a patient's age influences how severe the psychopathology and clinical aspects of pathological gambling are.

2013/03/15MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from The Lancet - by Bruce Sylvester - Short-term folic acid supplement use does not affect overall cancer risk and does little to increase the risk of developing cancer of the colon, prostate, lung, and breast, researchers from a meta-analysis involving almost 50 000 subjects.

2013/03/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) - by Bruce Sylvester - Deaths and liver transplants related to paracetamol overdoses have decreased significantly due to UK legislation which reduced pack sizes, researchers reported on Feb.7, 2013 in the BMJ.

2013/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) - by Bruce Sylvester - Forty-eight weeks of antiretroviral treatment in the early stages of HIV infection delays damage to the immune system and delays the need for long-term treatment, researchers reported on Jan. 16, 2013 in the NEJM.

2013/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - by Bruce Sylvester - Patients experiencing intermittent claudication, pain in the calf while walking, who were treated for 24 weeks with the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor ramipril achieved improvements in pain-free and maximum walking times and improvements in the physical health aspect of quality of life, researchers reported in the February 6 issue of JAMA.

2013/03/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Increases in outdoor heat significantly raise, for the elderly, the risk of emergency hospitalisation for respiratory disorders, researchers reported online on March 8, 2013 ahead of print publication in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

2013/03/11MEDICAL UPDATE

2013/03/08MEDICAL UPDATE

In a recent Clinical Crossroads article Dr. Dan Alford from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) suggests that prescription opioid abuse can be minimized by monitoring patients closely for harm by using urine drug testing (UDT), pill counts, and reviewing prescription drug monitoring program data when available.

2013/03/08MEDICAL UPDATE

People who suffer from insomnia appear to have an increased risk of developing heart failure, according to the largest study to investigate the link. The study followed 54,279 people between the ages of 20-89 for an average of more than 11 years, and found that those who suffered from three symptoms of insomnia had a more than three-fold increased risk of developing heart failure compared to those with no insomnia symptoms.

2013/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Chronic pain, pain that persists longer than three months, is a very prevalent problem and it has very predictable effects on patient's lives. Recent studies have demonstrated that 13% of the population of the Irish population suffer from persistent pain and many of these patients follow a pattern of disability and depression.

2013/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

A special report published by the BMJ finds that thousands of melanoma patients around the world are undergoing an expensive and invasive procedure called sentinel node biopsy, despite a lack of clear evidence and concerns that it may do more harm than good.

2013/03/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Employees with disabilities are twice as likely to be attacked at work and they experience higher rates of insults, ridicule and intimidation, a new UK study has found. Researchers from Cardiff and Plymouth universities found that people with physical or psychological disabilities or long-term illness reported higher rates of 21 types of ill-treatment than other workers did, often from their managers and colleagues.

2013/03/06MEDICAL UPDATE

Building on earlier pioneering work by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, an international consortium of university researchers has produced the most comprehensive virtual reconstruction of human metabolism to date. Scientists could use the model, known as Recon 2, to identify causes of and new treatments for diseases like cancer, diabetes and even psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

2013/03/06MEDICAL UPDATE

An international group of investigators has identified seven new genetic regions associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of blindness in older individuals. The findings could point to new biological pathways and therapeutic targets for AMD.

2013/03/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Colon cancer develops slowly. Precancerous lesions usually need many years to turn into a dangerous carcinoma. They are well detectable in an endoscopic examination of the colon called colonoscopy and can be removed during the same examination.

2013/03/05MEDICAL UPDATE

The first large, population-based study to follow children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) into adulthood shows that ADHD often doesn't "go away," and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults. Although numbers were small, they also appear more likely to commit suicide and are often incarcerated as adults.

2013/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School describe the first case of a so-called "functional cure" in an HIV-infected infant. The finding, the investigators say, may help pave the way to eliminating HIV infection in children.

2013/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Smartphone applications that claim to evaluate a user's photographs of skin lesions for the likelihood of cancer instead returned highly variable and often inaccurate feedback, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

2013/03/04MEDICAL UPDATE

Research by the University of Warwick indicates that vaccinating families could protect young babies against a common winter virus which can be fatal for infants under six months. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) typically leads to mild, cold-like symptoms in adults and older children but can be more serious and even fatal in infants under the age of six months as it can lead to bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

2013/03/01MEDICAL UPDATE

According to the latest survey of UK hourly pay by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) female doctors' pay lags behind their male colleagues by 28.6%. This "eye opener" pay gap, which trends suggest has stood at around 25% on average since 2000, remains largely inexplicable, says John Appleby, Chief Economist at the King's Fund.

2013/03/01MEDICAL UPDATE

According to a study in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, primary care physicians prefer to deliver the results of radiology examinations themselves and feel medico-legally obligated by recommendations within radiology reports.

2013/02/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Research finds pathways from early-life circumstances to issues later in life. It's common knowledge that a child who misses a meal can't concentrate in school. But what happens years down the road? Does that missed meal have any bearing on health in adulthood?

2013/02/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients at Manchester Royal Infirmary are playing a vital role in an international trial to find out if a blood test can accurately confirm a heart attack within an hour of someone being admitted to hospital with chest pain

2013/02/27MEDICAL UPDATE

New study helps understand who is at risk and why. Asthma is a serious condition that affects more than 25.7 million Americans, and is responsible for nearly 4,000 deaths annually. While the cause of asthma remains unknown, a study released in the January issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), has concluded that low birth weight is not associated with asthma risk in young children.

2013/02/27MEDICAL UPDATE

New study finds those living close to the equator are at higher risk. Those living near the equator may find themselves sneezing and wheezing more than usual. And the reason may not be due to increasing pollen counts.

2013/02/26MEDICAL UPDATE

Air pollution contributes to an increased number of deaths among patients who have been admitted to hospital with heart attacks, according to a study published online today in the European Heart Journal [1].

2013/02/26MEDICAL UPDATE

It is well known that COPD patients run a higher risk of contracting respiratory infections. However, a new thesis from Lund University in Sweden shows that they are also at higher risk of other bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis (TB) and pneumococcal and staphylococcal infections that can cause serious illness.

2013/02/25MEDICAL UPDATE

Treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively measure pain and a new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital advances that effort.

2013/02/25MEDICAL UPDATE

First report of unexplained pain as predictor, according to new study - A new study of working women has identified factors during pregnancy and postpartum that can predict pain in the joints that comprise the pelvic girdle.

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Pneumonia cannot be accurately diagnosed solely on a doctor's analysis of symptoms and patient history, according to new findings. A new study, published online in the European Respiratory Journal, found that a majority of pneumonia cases could not be accurately diagnosed by a doctor's judgement alone, compared to a chest radiograph.

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A study by Queen's University Belfast has found that the dispensing of psychotropic drugs to older people in Northern Ireland increases on entry to care homes. According to the study, antipsychotic drug dispensing in older people more than doubled from 8.2 per cent before entry to care homes to 18.6 per cent after entering care.

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A lifelong diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can inhibit growth of breast cancer tumours by 30 per cent, according to new research. The study, published recently in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, is believed to be the first to provide unequivocal evidence that omega-3s reduce cancer risk.

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Antidepressant prescriptions in the UK have increased by 9.6% in 2011, to 46 million prescriptions. Does this reflect over medicalisation or appropriate treatment? Glasgow GP, Dr Des Spence, thinks that "we use antidepressants too easily, for too long, and that they are effective for few people (if at all)"

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Ed Susman - Orlando, Florida – Researchers said they were surprised to find that prostate cancer patients treated with anticoagulants appear to achieve a longer median overall survival than other men with the disease who have not been diagnosed with life-threatening blood clots.

2013/02/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Eoghan McNeill - Orlando, Florida – When clinicians observe incidental kidney masses, about 78% of the time they are surgically removed – but a new study suggests that watching and waiting to see if those masses are dangerous may be a safer strategy for older and sicker patients.

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Directing short bursts of radio waves at nerves surrounding the kidneys lowered blood pressure for at least six months and up to one year among patients with hypertension that persists regardless of taking multiple medications to control it,

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Despite a substantial increase in the number of people suffering the debilitating and often deadly effects of heart failure, treatments for the condition have not advanced significantly for at least 10 years.

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Home blood pressure monitoring may help patients with hypertension and stroke but did not improve blood pressure control for patients who had normal blood pressure at the start or those with disabilities,

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Adults 18-24 years old with high blood pressure were 28 percent less likely to be diagnosed during doctor visits than those 60 and older, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions.

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

New research at Saint Louis University shows physicians do not talk to patients about the psychosocial impact and long-term risks of implanting cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to treat irregular heart rhythms, leaving them misinformed about how the device may affect quality of life.

2013/02/20MEDICAL UPDATE

As of 2009, the overall death rate for cancer in the United States had declined 20 percent from its peak in 1991, translating to the avoidance of approximately 1.2 million deaths from cancer, 152,900 of these in 2009 alone. These figures come from the American Cancer Society's annual Cancer Statistics report.

2013/02/19MEDICAL UPDATE

For nearly a decade, breast cancer researchers studying the hormone therapy tamoxifen have been divided as to whether genetic differences in liver enzymes affect the drug's effectiveness and the likelihood breast cancer will recur.

2013/02/19MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers have shown in the laboratory how a 'transcription factor' causes breast cancer cells to develop an aggressive subtype that lacks sensitivity to oestrogen and does not respond to known anti-oestrogen therapies.

2013/02/19MEDICAL UPDATE

In association with A.Menarini Pharmaceuticals Ireland Ltd - Beta-blockers are one of the most valuable classes of drugs in the therapeutic armamentarium. They have an established place in the management of hypertension in combination with other agents.

2013/02/18MEDICAL UPDATE

A new study comparing outcomes among prostate cancer patients treated with surgery versus radiotherapy found differences in urinary, bowel and sexual function after short-term follow-up, but those differences were no longer significant 15 years after initial treatment.

2013/02/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from The Lancet - by Bruce Sylvester - Patients with cough treated with amoxicillin do not recover significantly more quickly or have significantly fewer symptoms than other patients, researchers reported on Dec. 18 in The Lancet.

2013/02/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) - by Bruce Sylvester - High doses of vitamin D taken for a year appears to help infection-prone patients achieve a lower risk of respiratory tract infection,

2013/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - Japan - by Eoghan McNeill - Researchers from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Japan report today that they have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes, from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).

2013/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - France - by Gary Finnegan - The detrimental effects of obesity are well-documented with public health specialists warning of a tidal wave of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases if obesity continues to rise.

2013/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - China - by Gary Finnegan - A study of nearly 6,000 people in five provinces in China has shown that people exposed to passive smoking have a significantly increased risk of several dementia syndromes.

2013/02/11MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - New Zealand - by Gary Finnegan - Taxes on sugary drinks and foods high in saturated fats, along with subsidies for fruit and vegetables, could incentivise dietary changes and improve health, according to a new study.

2013/02/08MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - Several new medicines have been approved by the EMA’s influential Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), including the first non-surgical treatment for vitreomacular traction (VMT).

2013/02/08MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Eoghan McNeill - The EMA has published revised guidelines on the evaluation of anti-cancer medicines to take account of advances in research and new therapeutic options which have emerged in recent years.

2013/02/07MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - by Bruce Sylvester - Daily multivitamin use by men does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers reported in a study published

2013/02/07MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights by Bruce Sylvester - According to a study published online on Nov. 20, 2012 in Arthritis and Rheumatism, rituximab appears to benefit patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) who suffer from aPL-related clinical problems that are unresponsive to anticoagulation therapy, such as cardiac disease and kidney disease.

2013/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with heart disease who practiced transcendental meditation regularly over a 5-year period were 48 percent less likely to have a heart attack, stroke or die from all causes compared to other similarly diagnosed non-meditating patients,

2013/01/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Safe and effective - Researchers have found that tumour "separation surgery" followed by high-dose hypofractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or high-dose single-fraction SRS is safe and effective in controlling spinal metastases regardless of the radiosensitivity of the particular tumour type that has invaded the spine.

2013/01/24MEDICAL UPDATE

Women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are at higher risk of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease compared with women without the disorders, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

2013/01/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Measurements taken over time of prostate specific antigen, the most commonly used screening test for prostate cancer in men, improve the accuracy of aggressive prostate cancer detection when compared to a single measurement of PSA,

2013/01/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A study of more than 33,000 outpatient male veterans suggests that a longer duration of antimicrobial treatment of more than seven days for a urinary tract infection (UTI) appeared not to be associated with a reduced risk of early or late recurrence compared to a shorter duration (seven days or less) of treatment,

2013/01/10MEDICAL UPDATE

A study released today from the upcoming issue of the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (JPIDS) found that taking early and repeated white blood cell counts (WBC) is critical in determining whether infants have pertussis and which of those children are at highest risk of death from the disease.

2013/01/10MEDICAL UPDATE

The image (below), from a Brigham and Women's Hospital study, shows the Default Mode Network in patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) and in healthy subjects (CONTROLS) before and after...click here for more information.

2013/01/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Spin and bias exist in a high proportion of published studies of the outcomes and adverse side-effects of phase III clinical trials of breast cancer treatments, according to new research published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1].

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk for carotid artery plaque formation and for the presence of vulnerable plaques with a lipid core, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Asthma is more common among children born after infertility treatment than among children who have been planned and conceived naturally, according to findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journalHuman Reproduction [1].

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

According to a new study from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University, African-American women who reported suffering abuse before age 11 had a greater likelihood of adult-onset asthma compared to women whose childhood and adolescence were free of abuse.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A new iPhone app developed at the University of Michigan lets migraine or facial pain patients easily track and record their pain, which in turn helps the treating clinician develop a pain management plan.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

[caption id="attachment_1598" align="alignleft" width="176"] Dr. Scott Forseen, Medical College of Georgia[/caption]
While scientific evidence suggests that less is typically more when it comes to diagnosing and treating low-back pain in the US, the number of expensive imaging exams and surgeries done

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

A new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) shows that preparing older acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients for bone marrow transplants with a reduced intensity conditioning regimen appears to be associated with higher rates of disease-free survival relative to

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Encouraging safety and efficacy data on novel and emerging therapies presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology (ASH) signal an important step forward in the development of treatment strategies for patients with hard-to-treat leukaemia, myeloma, and myelofibrosis.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

Studies of stem cell biology and transplant approaches presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology (ASH) illustrate how the use of advanced modelling techniques is optimizing stem cells to treat patients with blood disorders,

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

New research, presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology (ASH), has identified important associations between Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria and endemic Burkitt Lymphoma (eBL) that may help researchers identify young children who are more susceptible to eBL.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

The promising investigational targeted therapy ibrutinib and its mechanism of silencing gene communication pathways critical to the development of cancer may be an effective way to combat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL),

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

An experimental drug combination for preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was not significantly better than the standard regimen on key endpoints, according to a report of a phase 3 trial at the American Society of Haematology annual meeting.

2012/12/21MEDICAL UPDATE

There is no difference between proton radiotherapy (PRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) when comparing the toxicity among patients with prostate cancer at 12 months post-treatment according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - EMA Highlights - The first radiopharmaceutical for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of β-amyloid neuritic plaque density has been approved by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - EMA Highlights - The EMA has given the green light to a new vaccine for bacterial meningitis. Bexsero, by Novartis, provides broad coverage against the meningococcal group B infections and is intended for the immunisation of children aged two months and older.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - FDA Highlights - Treatment with denosumab decreases the number of tumor giant cells in patients with giant-cell tumor of the bone, and increases new bone formation, researchers reported on September 21, 2012 in Clinical Cancer Research.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - FDA Highlights - According to a study published online on September 7, 2012 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanate improves moderate exacerbations in patients with mild-to-moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - FDA Highlights - A study published online on August 27, 2012 in The Lancet suggests that gabapentin, a pain and seizure drug, significantly reduces both frequency and severity of coughing and other symptoms associated with chronic cough.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Lancet - Radiotherapy given immediately after prostate removal surgery has a long-term benefit of preventing progression of the disease, researchers reported in a study published online on Oct 18, 2012 in The Lancet.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Smoking cuts life expectancy by ten years in Japan, researchers report in a paper published by the BMJ on bmj.com on Oct. 25, 2012.
by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) - The investigators in Oxford (UK) and Japan evaluated the impact of smoking on mortality in a large group of Japanese people living in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1950.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - Researchers comparing methods for treating low-grade gliomas have found early surgical resection produced better overall survival than biopsy and watchful waiting. The findings were published on Oct. 25, 2012 in JAMA.

2012/12/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) - Aspirin therapy appears to extend life in colorectal cancer patients with tumors having a mutation in a key gene, but has no effect on patients without the mutation, researchers reported October 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Canada) - Austerity measures introduced by European governments and the deepening threat of insolvency faced by the US Medicare system have focused minds on ‘doing more with less’.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Japan) - Researchers in Japan have called for mandatory visual field testing for drivers in light of evidence showing glaucoma may increase the risk of road traffic accidents.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Germany) - Millions of people in Europe, the US and elsewhere use tanning beds every year ignoring the risk of skin cancer – but why? This was the question German researchers set out to answer as part of a telephone survey reported in the Archives of Dermatology journal.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that respiratory symptoms vary significantly in different stages of the menstrual cycle, and that there are more symptoms during the mid-luteal to mid-follicular stages.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Patients with diabetes and multi-vessel coronary artery disease who undergo bypass surgery live longer, and they are less likely to have complications than those who undergo angioplasty, researchers report.

2012/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Findings from a study presented in November at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012 suggest that subjects with three to four aging signs, receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the head's crown, earlobe crease, or yellow fatty deposits around the eyelid (xanthelasmata), have a 57 percent increased risk for heart attack and a 39 percent increased risk for heart disease.

2012/12/10MEDICAL UPDATE

Laser-based measurements are proving to be a promising method for the assessment of osteoporosis. The team led by Professor Jussi Timonen has developed an ultrasound technique that use laser beams for a rapid and accurate assessment of osteoporosis.
The research is part of the Photonics and Modern Imaging Techniques Research Programme of the Academy of Finland and involves input by researchers from the Universities of Jyväskylä, Helsinki and Oulu.

2012/11/22MEDICAL UPDATE

Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), lesion surgery, and other new and innovative technologies are currently being used at UF to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, essential tremor, dystonia, and other complex movement disorders and affective syndromes. The center is developing these techniques for anyone with a medical illness involving a group of brain structures known as the basal ganglia.

2012/11/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Marybeth Burke - Regorafenib significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and disease control rate (DCR) in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) that progress due to resistance to other available treatment options such as imatinib (IM) and sunitinib (SU),

2012/11/20MEDICAL UPDATE

by Marybeth Burke - Some of the most essential mainstays in cancer treatment drugs for adults and children are in short supply, Michael Link, M.D., president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) announced

2012/11/06MEDICAL UPDATE

It is estimated that as many as 24 million European men aged 50 and over experience bothersome urinary symptoms.1,2 Yet, despite experiencing symptoms, men typically wait nearly two years before speaking to their doctor.3

2012/10/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Second study sheds light on the 'obesity paradox'
People can be obese but metabolically healthy and fit, with no greater risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer than normal weight people, according to the largest study ever to have investigated this, which is published online in the European Heart Journal [1].

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - Emerging uses of EMA Approved Drugs -
Over 1,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have now registered with European Medicines Agency SME office. The Agency launched its SME initiative in December 2005 to encourage smaller players to bring potential new medicines to market in recognition of their role in driving innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - Emerging uses of EMA Approved Drugs -
There’s a new man at the helm of the European Medicine Agency’s most influential committee: Dr Tomas Salmonson has been elected as the new chair of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for three-year term.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Older seniors, aged 85 and over, show a high burden of respiratory disease, researchers reported on September 3, 2012 at the European Respiratory Society's annual congress in Vienna.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The British Medical Journal (BMJ) -
Contradicting previous research, researchers from a study of over 44,000 women in England report that treatment for cervical disease does not appear to increase the risk of subsequent premature births.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - take from The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) -
Among patients classified at intermediate risk, heart calcium scanning, known as coronary artery calcium (CAC), is the best assessment tool for predicting the development of cardiovascular disease.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Lancet -
A study by Professor Peter M Rothwell, University of Oxford, UK and colleagues supports the hypothesis and adds to the evidence that daily aspirin helps prevent cancer.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Australia) -
Click here for more information
Melbourne researchers are using Australia’s fasted supercomputer to simulate the motion of the complete human rhinovirus in 3D.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Belgium) -
Providing energy-dense food supplements to malnourished children in developing countries has limited effect on the weight of malnourished children, according to a new study led by a Belgian university.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Canada) -
Influenza vaccination rates vary widely in Canada depending on ethnicity, according to a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal which shows that black Canadians and white Canadians are the least likely to be vaccinated.

2012/10/26MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Sweden) -
Breast cancer screening has limited or no impact on breast cancer mortality among women aged 40-69, according to a study published in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute.

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Almost all lung transplant recipients will develop bronchiolotis obliterans (BO) if they live long enough – as transplantation care is improving, BO is becoming an increasingly common complication for transplant clinicians to manage.

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - That the human brain is capable of reorganising itself following the loss of a limb is well known – the part of the motor cortex that used to control the lost limb is instead employed in controlling other motor functions such as the face or other limbs.1

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - New legislation which recognises and defines the concept of brain death has allowed Israel to nearly double the number of transplantations of organs from deceased donors in the course of a single year.

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) can be used as an alternative to computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for post-operative imaging of pancreas transplants.

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Introduction - In many ways waiting lists to receive an organ transplantation look very much the same today as they did a decade ago – such as gender, blood type, and even the underlying cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to some extent.

2012/10/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Bowel transplantation poses a dilemma to transplant teams throughout the UK. Consent rates for intestinal donation are lower than for any other solid organ type, and available grafts are often refused because of issues of size and suitability.

2012/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

C. difficile is a bacterium that is common in the environment. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 337,000 cases of CDI are reported each year, causing 14,000 deaths.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Men with prostate cancer in Texas may be driving more than three times farther than needed to obtain radiation oncology treatments for their cancer when treated at a urology-owned radiation oncology practice versus other facilities,

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) announced today the names of two eminent cancer specialists and one European institution that will be recognized for their contribution to the advancement of medical oncology at the ESMO 2012 Congress.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

People who drive commercial vehicles, such as buses, taxis, trucks and aeroplanes, could be incorrectly reporting their symptoms of sleep apnoea due to their fears of endangering their employment, according to a new study.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

The Brussels Declaration, published in the European Respiratory Journal in 2008 recognises the high prevalence of patients with poorly controlled asthma and calls for changes in asthma management across Europe.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

"Exposure to media coverage of terrorist missile attacks increases pain levels in people already suffering from chronic pain," according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Women having surgery for breast cancer are up to three times more likely to have severe pain in the first week after surgery if they suffer from other painful conditions, such as arthritis, low back pain and migraine, according to a Cancer Research UK study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified reliable predictors of pain by surveying patients throughout their hospital stays about the severity of their pain and their levels of satisfaction with how their pain was managed by hospital staff.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

The routine use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) among patients with ankylosing spondylitis can slow the progression of bone changes in the spine, two groups of European researchers reported.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

When people have similar injuries, why do some end up with chronic pain while others recover and are pain free? The first longitudinal brain imaging study to track participants with a new back injury has found the chronic pain is all in their heads –- quite literally.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

The combination also appears to be cost effective.
A randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, double-dummy, parallel-group study to determine the safety and efficacy of oxycodone/naloxone prolonged-release tablets in patients with moderate/severe, chronic cancer pain.

2012/09/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Pain caused by 2 different mechanisms
Apply the ointment, light on, light off – that's how easy it is to cure various forms of non-melanoma skin cancer. However, the majority of patients suffer severe pain during the so-termed photodynamic therapy.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers from the PROTECT(Patient Related OuTcomes with Endeavor versus Cypher Stenting Rates) study reported at ESC that rates of stent thrombosis at three years for zotarolimus-eluting and sirolimus-eluting stents were low and similar.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - On March 11, 2011, Japan was shocked by the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan. The earthquake and tsunami caused 15,861 deaths. TStrong psychosocial stress is considered to be a precipitating factor in acute coronary events. A recent Japanese study, published in the European Heart Journal, investigated the after-effects and impact of the earthquake on cardiovascular events.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - Patients who resume smoking after a stroke increase their risk of death by three-fold, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2012 by Professor Furio Colivicchi (pictured) from San Filippo Neri Hospital. The researchers also found that the earlier patients resume smoking, the greater their risk of death with one year.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - BMI still offers a simple numeric measure of a person's "thickness" or "thinness". However, normal weight individuals who carry weight concentrated in their belly have a higher death risk than obese individuals, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2012.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - ESC Geoffrey Rose Lecture on Population Sciences. The recipient of the ‘ESC Geoffrey Rose Lecture on Population Sciences’ went to Rory Collins (pictured), who is British Heart Foundation Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, at the University of Oxford.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Revamped ESC guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation (STEMI) include issues of diagnosis and treatment before, during, and after hospitalization.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Revamped ESC guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation (STEMI) include issues of diagnosis and treatment before, during, and after hospitalization.

2012/09/17MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - In Europe, around 60-70,000 patients are diagnosed with cardiogenic shock each year. Developed in the early 1960s, intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) counterpulsation, is recommended to treat cardiogenic shock[1][2][3].

2012/09/03MEDICAL UPDATE

The end of July 2012 proved exciting for the world of biosimilar manufacturers. However, for the regulatory officials worldwide it meant more uncertainty and unknowns about proper, global biosimilar guidelines.

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - Candidates for a heart transplant who use a ventricular assist device on a long-term basis have survival rates on the wait list that are comparable to, and sometimes better than, candidates on the wait list who don’t use a ventricular assist device,

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - TOL101, a new murine monoclonal antibody that targets the alpha-beta T-cell receptor, showed a good safety profile despite a problem with hives that seem to go away on their own,

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - Using a high dose of insulin is associated with a high risk of pancreas loss after a simultaneous pancreas kidney transplant, researchers said here at the 2012 American Transplant Congress.

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - Total pancreatectomy and auto islet transplantation among children can bring about good results, with many able to stay insulin-free and almost all of them with pain eased enough that they don’t have to take narcotics to treat it,

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - A method for cross-matching organ donors and recipients — using beads and human complement — is producing more reliable results, making for transplantation of hearts and kidneys that stand a lower risk of rejection,

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - BOSTON — The transplantation community turned to a somewhat unlikely source for insight here as immunologist James Allison, PhD, Chairman of the Immunology Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, talked about how to prompt immune responses to fight tumours — rather than damping down the immune system, which is the goal of transplant specialists.

2012/08/21MEDICAL UPDATE

[caption id="attachment_1635" align="alignleft" width="180"] Mr Nizam Mamode, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.[/caption]
by Mr Nizam Mamode - Transplantation, especially renal transplantation, now seems a fairly straightforward technique. A kidney is removed, usually laparoscopically, then implanted in pretty much the same way it has been for the last 6o years.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - Every year, the EAHP holds a best poster competition to encourage hospital pharmacists from all over Europe and beyond, to share best practices and key studies in their field. This year, at the 40th EAHP conference, the 470 posters covered a wide range of topics from technology such as robotic production, to risk management and patient safety. Congratulations to this year’s winners!

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - On the occasion of its 40th Anniversary, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) recorded the highest number of attendees at its annual Congress so far. In total 3,700 conference delegates attended over the three-day event in Milan, listening to keynote speeches, taking part in seminars, and sharing experiences at poster sessions. At the conference, both the UK and Ireland were well-represented with posters, and one study from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was nominated for a Poster Prize.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

CHICAGO – A study evaluating off-label prescribing of medications in a primary care network in Canada suggests the practice is common, although it varies by medication, patient and physician characteristics, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. The report is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark - Quality and safety of hospital pharmacy preparation. One session at the EAHP congress explored the implications of the recent Council of Europe resolution (CM/ResAP(2011)1) that set out recommendations for quality and safety assurance standards for medicinal products prepared in pharmacies for the special needs of patients.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - The role of consultant pharmacist was introduced seven years ago by the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, with the intention of improving patient care and with the aim of retaining experienced pharmacists in clinical practice1.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark - Changes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer form the basis for future developments. There have been many revolutions in medical science over the past 50 years and hospital pharmacy cannot avoid being influenced by them, according to Umberto Veronesi (pictured), Scientific Director of the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, speaking at the EAHP congress in Milan in March 2012.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - Even with international guidelines for pain treatment, therapy has to be individualised for patients and pharmacists can play an important role in the management of various types of acute and chronic painful conditions.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark - Standardised injections could improve patient safety. The B Braun satellite symposium, ‘Is Patient Safety Affordable?’ took place at the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists congress in Milan, Italy on 21st March 2012.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Zara Qadir - Five years of evolution in Hospital Pharmacy. The 40th EAHP meeting provided an opportunity for Tajda Miharija-Gala and Juraj Sykora, Directors of Professional Development, to preview the findings of the fourth pan-European EAHP survey of hospital pharmacy practice.

2012/08/03MEDICAL UPDATE

by Christine Clark - The Bayer satellite symposium, ‘The new oral anticoagulants: mechanisms, evidence and day-to-day decisions’, was held at the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists Congress in Milan on 21st March 2012

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
Researchers in a large, retrospective study report that daily use of low-dose aspirin is associated with an increased risk of major gastrointestinal or cerebral bleeding.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester taken from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)
Vismodegib (Erivedge), a new skin cancer drug for advanced basal cell carcinoma, was called "the greatest advance in therapy yet seen" for advanced basal cell carcinoma in an editorial on June 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Long-term opium use almost doubles the risk of death from many causes, particularly circulatory diseases, respiratory conditions, and cancer, researchers reported in the British Medical Journal online (bmj.com) on April 18.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - taken from The Lancet -
Young children with suspected serious bacterial infection treated with zinc and standard antibiotics have achieved a significantly reduced rat treatment failure,

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - In a randomized Phase II study presented at ASCO, investigators reported that 6 months of treatment with the targeted drug abiraterone (Zytiga) when added to standard, pre-surgical hormonal therapy for removal of the prostate has eliminated

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Investigators from a Phase III trial reported at ASCO that chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) which is unresponsive to conventional treatments reponds to olanzapine (Zyprexa) therapy.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - In a phase I study presented at ASCO, researchers reported that crizotinib (Xalkori) stalled tumor growth and, in some cases, eradicated all signs of cancer in certain children with

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Results from a new study suggest that Vitamin D deficiency is related to lung function in smokers, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation could be protective against of smoking on lung function.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - The combination of obesity and low vitamin D deficiency appears to cause a greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, researchers reported on July 17 online in Diabetes Care.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Germany) -
An interdisciplinary care model for breast cancer management has grown in popularity in recent years and evidence suggests the shift has been of major benefit to patients.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Gary Finnegan - World Health Matters (Holland) -
Higher levels of public reimbursement for fertility treatment can positively influence national birth rates, according to a study by a Dutch research group.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

The antidepressant duloxetine (Cymbalta ®) can effectively treat chemotherapy-induced neuropathy in some patients , researchers reported on July 3, 2012 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) doubled at academic medical centers in the U.S. between 2003 and 2008, according to a report published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

Open surgery appears to be associated with an increased risk of small-bowel obstructions compared to laparoscopic procedures. This is shown by a new study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

2012/07/31MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Emerging uses of FDA Approved Drugs -
A hormone-depleting drug approved in 2011 for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer appears to help eliminate or nearly eliminate tumors in patients with aggressive cancers that have not metastasized,

2012/06/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), or radiosurgery, is effective in treating hepatocellular cancer (HCC) tumours that are unresectable and it can act as a bridge for patients on the liver transplant list,

2012/06/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - A recently unveiled scoring system for evaluating the likelihood of post-liver transplant survival is useful in predicting success in transplants from donors with cardiac deaths,

2012/06/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Thomas R. Collins - Pursuing liver grafts in an aggressive manner throughout the United States is much more costly than getting them from a local or regional area, but those expenses are more than offset by the savings generated by transplanting patients earlier rather than later,

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Findings from a newly published meta-analysis suggests that levels of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) among statin users is associated with risk of developing a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, as are levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and apolipoprotein B.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

C. difficile is a bacterium that is common in the environment. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 337,000 cases of CDI are reported each year, causing 14,000 deaths.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Safety results were similar between groups.
Data presented at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrates that tocilizumab monotherapy is more effective than adalimumab monotherapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - A research paper published in ‘Tobacco Control’ by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) shows that tobacco control policies implemented in Ireland between 1998 and 2010 have contributed to a reduction in smoking prevalence,

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of EMA Approved Drugs - by Gary Finnegan - Several new medicines have been approved by the European Medicines Agency after recent meetings of its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of EMA Approved Drugs - by Gary Finnegan - The European Medicines Agency is emerging from a turbulent spell which has seen the departure of one of its most senior experts, controversy over its former director’s new job, and repeated clashes with the European Parliament.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of FDA Approved Drugs - by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers from a phase 2 study published on March 27 in The Lancet Oncology report that ipilimumab, which improves overall survival in patients with advanced melanoma, could shrink some brain tumors and slow metastasis in some patients.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of FDA Approved Drugs - by Bruce Sylvester - Results from the largest study yet of the treatment of urinary incontinence with botulinum toxin suggests that the treatment is effective. The finding was reported in March in the journal European Urology.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Emerging uses of FDA Approved Drugs - by Bruce Sylvester - Heart disease patients who use statins are significantly less likely to develop depression than their counterparts who do not use statins, researchers reported online on Feb. 24 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) - by Bruce Sylvester - One ultrasound scan can safely rule out a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in women either during pregnancy or during the first few weeks of the post-partum period, researchers reported in the BMJ online on April 25.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - by Bruce Sylvester - A registry study including data on nearly 6,500 patients shows that use of losartan by heart failure patients is not associated with increased all-cause death or cardiovascular death when compared with use of the ARB candesartan.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) - by Bruce Sylvester - Aortic stenosis patients who are too ill to undergo open-heart surgery have achieved better survival rates and an improved quality of life after undergoing catheter-based heart valve replacement

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (U.S.A.) - by Gary Finnegan - The United States is paying far more for health services than 12 comparable industrialised nations but the quality of care is highly variable, according to new research by The Commonwealth Fund.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (Denmark) - by Gary Finnegan - A new study has shown that a marked increase in CPR performed by bystanders in Denmark can lead to marked improvements in survival rates after cardiac arrest.

2012/06/14MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters (Canada) - by Gary Finnegan - Influenza vaccination rates vary widely in Canada depending on ethnicity, according to a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal which shows that black Canadians and white Canadians are the least likely to be vaccinated.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

In order to promote the ongoing education in cancer care which is one of the objectives of the association the Cork branch holds an annual education update. In recent years the Cork branch has targeted areas such as Breast cancer, Colorectal cancer and Head and Neck cancer but in April 2012 the group held an education update in The Oriel Hotel Ballincollig, Cork, titled ‘ A malignant and Non-Malignant Haematology Update’.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Quality-of-life issues gaining prominence as long-term cancer survival rates increase. More than 80 percent of radiation oncologists discuss the impact of cancer treatments on fertility with their patients of childbearing age, which can lead to improved quality of life for young cancer patients who are living much longer after their original diagnosis thanks to modern treatment options, according to a study in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

A new analysis concludes that rituximab, a drug commonly used to treat blood cancers, leads to treatment responses lasting at least five years in approximately one quarter of patients with low platelet counts and a risk of bleeding due to chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

For the first time, researchers have successfully injected cultured red blood cells (cRBCs) created from human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into a human donor, according to study results published today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). As the global need for blood continues to increase while the number of blood donors is decreasing, these study results provide hope that one day patients in need of a blood transfusion might become their own donors.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Pictured: Dr. Yael P. Mosse is a pediatric oncologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researcher leads trial of ALK inhibitor in neuroblastoma, lymphoma. A pill designed to target abnormal genes that drive specific cancers has produced encouraging early results in children with an uncommon but aggressive type of lymphoma, as well as in children with a rare form of neuroblastoma.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

A key goal of MIRT is to train and mentor the clinician scientists of the future. An Interview with Dr. Peter O'Gorman, Consultant Haematologist, at the Mater University Hospital explains the origins of the scheme and its success to date.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Residents of Lower Manhattan who suffered home damage following the September 11 terrorist attacks are more likely to report respiratory symptoms and diseases than area residents whose homes were not damaged,

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Gordon D. Rubenfeld, M.D., of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, Canada, and colleagues with the ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) Definition Task Force, developed a new definition of ARDS (the Berlin Definition) that focused on feasibility, reliability, validity and objective evaluation of its performance.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

New drug helps preterm infants breathe. "I am excited that our scientific findings will help save lives," said Charles Cochrane, MD, professor emeritus. "Many years of work in our basic research laboratory made this landmark development possible."

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

The majority of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) referred for pulmonary rehabilitation have multiple extra-pulmonary comorbidities, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

2012/06/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.Y.

2012/06/11MEDICAL UPDATE

A nurse's tender loving care really does ease the pain of a medical procedure, and grandma's cookies really do taste better, if we perceive them to be made with love - suggests newly published research by a University of Maryland psychologist.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - The majority of breast cancer patients diagnosed with oestrogen receptor positive tumours respond well to endocrine therapy like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, when used appropriately. However, some tumours are resistant to hormonal therapy de novo; others develop resistance leading to relapse and disease progression after initial response.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - We know that atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH), lobular carcinoma in-situ (LCIS) and borderline DCIS/severe ADH are breast lesions which can a high risk of developing into invasive breast cancer. However, the magnitude of risk and the efficacy of chemo-preventive measures remain unpredictable, when used in the clinical setting.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2011 was as exciting as ever with much new data and up-dates presented. Despite the ‘hot off the press’ news and animated debates on the rising cost of cancer care, timely in a global recession, the announcement of two trial results attracted the largest audiences and longest discussion times, CLEOPATRA and BOLERO 2.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women all over the world and its complex and multi-factorial aetiology remains unclear. There is a five-fold international variation in its incidence with developed countries carrying the highest incidence rates.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - It is well known that HER2-positive marker positively regulates VEGF expression and VEGR levels correlate with HER2 over-expression. There is emerging evidence to suggest that trastuzumab with bevacizumab with or without chemotherapy in local recurrent or metastatic breast cancers has a synergistic effect and encouraging clinical activity.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - There is clear evidence that the USA spends twice as much as any other country per GDP on cancer treatment but, except for fractionally better survival rates for breast cancer and NHL, they have essentially similar survival rates for the majority of other cancers.1 Unfortunately, it’s getting worse.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Patients with HER2-positive tumours are known to carry a poor prognosis. The standard recommendation is that the majority of newly diagnosed patients with HER2-positive tumours should receive adjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab preferably for one year.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Age is the number one risk factor for the development of breast cancer. Not only the incidence but also the mortality from breast cancer increases with age. It is well known that in the western world the proportion of elderly to younger people is rising. In her presentation, Dr Arti Hurria from City of Hope, Duarte, California reminded the audience that in the year 1900 there were 3 million people over the age of 65, which increased by ten fold to 30 million by year 2000.

2012/05/14MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Alison Louise Jones (pictured) - The headline figures are that the majority of women survive a diagnosis of breast cancer: 78% of those women currently diagnosed will be alive at 5 years and many of them will become long-term survivors.

2012/05/03MEDICAL UPDATE

The difficulties that many women describe as memory problems when menopause approaches are real, according to a study published today in the journal Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.

2012/05/03MEDICAL UPDATE

Laser-based measurements are proving to be a promising method for the assessment of osteoporosis. The team led by Professor Jussi Timonen has developed an ultrasound technique that use laser beams for a rapid and accurate assessment of osteoporosis.

2012/05/02MEDICAL UPDATE

A study of discontinuing natalizumab for multiple sclerosis patients testing positive for JC virus antibody found a higher relapse rate within 6 months than for patients continuing the drug whether positive or negative for JCV antibody.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Latest study says regular follow-up positive. Scientist say there is an urgent need for research into all aspects of follow-up care in lung cancer. The study presented in the May 2012 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology focused on different follow-up strategies for patients with lung cancer.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Like special-forces troops laser-tagging targets for a bomber pilot, tiny particles that can be imaged three different ways at once have enabled Stanford University School of Medicine scientists to remove brain tumours from mice with unprecedented accuracy.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Japanese have higher vulnerability to certain lung cancers. Previous research has shown that Asian patients with lung cancer are more likely to harbor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

A University of Miami study shows that women with non-metastatic breast cancer who are physically active and receive stress management intervention during treatment may reduce depression and lessen fatigue.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Loyola researchers are reporting surprising findings about a molecule that helps ramp up the immune system in some cases and suppress it in others. The finding eventually could lead to new drugs to regulate the immune system by, for example, revving it up to attack tumour cells or tamping it down to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.

2012/04/23MEDICAL UPDATE

Tailored, web-based intervention helped women understand options. When women at high risk of breast cancer viewed a customized web-based decision guide about prevention options, they were more likely to make a choice about prevention and to feel comfortable with their choice, a new study finds.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - The overall incidence of cancer is known to increase with age. However, there is hardly any age group that can be spared from the risk of developing cancer and the resulting necessary treatment.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death due to cancer in men all over the world. Most of the prostate cancer-related deaths are due to disseminated disease and bone is the commonest site for metastases.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Breast cancer is one of the commonest malignancies among women all over the world. Though the incidence of diagnosed breast cancer continues to rise, mortality rate has continued to improve due to early diagnosis, improved understanding of its biology and better multimodality treatment.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Management of heavily pre-treated metastatic breast cancer patients remains a challenge. Most emphasis is on the role of molecular agents and personalised medicine hence making them attractive topics of research.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Despite encouraging progress in the early diagnosis and better management outcome of common cancers, a high proportion of patients still present with advanced stage disease or develop relapse.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Basal cell carcinoma is the most common malignancy in the world. Its incidence is common in people with fair skin due to excessive exposure to sun. Most of these cancers are cured by surgery or superficial radiotherapy.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - One of the most important advances in cancer research over the last decade or so has been the appearance of targeted therapies. It has been possible following identification of genomic and epigenomic alterations and validation of candidate oncogenic drivers, metabolic changes and cancer cell signalling.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Aflibercept, a designer antiangiogenic compound has been found to show encouraging activity in the second-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. The agent has strong affinity for vascular growth factor and placental growth factor.

2012/04/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - It would be difficult to imagine how one would treat breast cancer today if it was not for the work and leadership of Professor Umberto Veronesi from Milan. During his acceptance lecture for his life time achievements award at the EMCC in Stockholm he emphasized that from the beginning of his nearly 60 years of academic activity his main interest has been “Quality of Life” for his patients.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Professor John Dark (pictured) - In contrast with that other thoracic organ the heart, activity and optimism in the pulmonary field are both increasing. Contemporay outcomes for selected groups of patients such as those with Cystic Fibrosis1 show median survivals in excess of ten years, double the oft quoted Registry figures of the past.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

Now in its twenty-first year, the Medawar Medal continues to reward excellence and innovation among young scientists and doctors in honour of Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel Laureate and founder BTS Chairman.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Miriam Manook et al, Guy’s Hospital, London. Adequate training of transplant surgeons is essential for good clinical outcomes. Although surgical training in renal transplantation has to date not been standardised, there is a recognised need for this and training programmes are currently being evaluated for implementation.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Robert Lechler, King’s College Hospital, London. Understanding how a transplant recipient’s immune system recognises the alloantigens that trigger rejection is vital to develop new ways of achieving clinical transplantation tolerance.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Lori West, University of Alberta, Toronto, Canada and Andrew Burroughs, Royal Free Hospital, London. ABO-incompatible transplantation is already a clinical reality in renal transplantation, and is increasingly used in other organ transplantation activity as well.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Dave Collett, Donation Advisory Group, NHS Blood and Transplant. Patient survival is by far the most important outcome in any transplantation and it is important that the clinician is able to give a realistic estimate of the expected survival.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - The introduction of the NHSBT National Pancreas Allocation Scheme in December 2010 has helped to reduce the waiting time for whole pancreas or islet transplantation without prolonging cold ischaemia times.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by José Ramón Nuñez, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. A nation-wide protocol for retrieving organs after cardiac death outside the hospital has dramatically increased the availability of organs from younger, healthy donors in Spain.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Kerri Barber, Bowel Advisory Group, NHS Blood and Transplant. Intestinal transplantation activity is low compared with other solid organ transplantation within the NHS – in recent years, only around 20 intestinal transplantations have been carried out annually.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby reporting on the presentation by Peter Friend, University of Oxford. Pancreas transplantation for the treatment of diabetes can be said to be unique amongst transplantations in that there is a genuine medical alternative available to the procedure, namely insulin.

2012/03/28MEDICAL UPDATE

by Maria Dalby - Introduction - Recent advances in transplant medicine and surgery mean more lives can be saved or prolonged with an organ transplantation, but also that the costs to the NHS are going through the roof.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights - by Bruce Sylvester - Patients with selected immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis who are treated with high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDM/SCT) have a high organ response rate and increased overall survival, even among those who did not achieve a haematologic complete response. Researchers reported this finding in the October 2011 issue of Blood.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

FDA Highlights - by Bruce Sylvester - The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine can help prevent anal cancer in men, researchers reported in the October 27, 2011, issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from The Lancet - by Bruce Sylvester - A new evaluation of data from three trials of antiviral therapy to treat genital herpes (herpes simplex virus type 2/HSV-2) indicates that the virus can reactivate in breakthrough episodes, even when doses of antiviral therapy are high.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) - by Bruce Sylvester - A Study published on Dec. 20, 2011 in the British Medical Journal suggests that some children may not be receiving effective doses of penicillin, which could lead to failed treatment and to antibiotic resistance. Oral penicillins (such as amoxicillin) account for nearly 4.5 million of the total six million annual paediatric prescriptions for antibiotics in the UK.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - by Bruce Sylvester -
Systolic hypertension patients treated in a clinical trial with the diuretic chlorthalidone for 4.5 years have achieved a significantly lower rate of death and a gain in life expectancy free from cardiovascular death about 20 years later, when compared to patients who received placebo, researchers reported in the December 21, 2011 issue of JAMA.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Taken from the The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) by Bruce Sylvester - Among patients with a history of high cholesterol well-controlled by long-term statin therapy, adding high-dose, extended release niacin does not lower the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - United States - by Gary Finnegan - A programme designed to boost cognition in older adults also increased their openness to new experiences, researchers report, demonstrating for the first time that a non-drug intervention in older adults can change a personality trait once thought to be fixed for life.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - Norway - by Gary Finnegan - Researchers in Norway have shown that physical therapy can have a significant impact on recovery times for patients who have had hip replacement surgery.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - South Korea - by Gary Finnegan - A new study by researchers in South Korea has found lower rates of alcohol use disorders (AUDs), nicotine use, and mood and anxiety disorders among the Korean public compared to a sample of the US population.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

World Health Matters - Australia - by Gary Finnegan - Over the past quarter century in Australia, cancer incidence rates have increased while deaths from cancer have steadily decreased. However, Indigenous Australians have lower cancer rates – and higher death rates – than the national average.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - The EMA has launched a public consultation on its revised guidelines covering how potential cancer drugs are assessed. The document provides guidance on all stages of clinical drug development for the treatment of tumours, including drug resistance modifiers or normal tissue protective compounds.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

EMA Highlights by Gary Finnegan - The new head of the European Medicines Agency, Guido Rasi, has promised to strengthen European rules governing medical devices in the wake of the scandal over sub-standard silicone breast implants.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Scientists have identified 29 new genetic variants linked to multiple sclerosis, providing key insights into the biology of this very debilitating neurological disease. Many of the genes - implicated in the study are relevant to the immune system, shedding light onto the immunological pathways that underlie the development of MS.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

A new study from researchers at Queen Mary, University of London shows how a particular virus tricks the immune system into triggering inflammation and nerve cell damage in the brain, which is known to cause MS.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease, causes periodic attacks of neurologic symptoms such as limb weakness and mobility defects. And while MS patients’ walking abilities and muscle strength are examined on a regular basis, doctors have yet to determine when the lower limb muscles begin to deteriorate.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

Researchers from the University of Southampton, in collaboration with psychologists from six other universities, have started a study to assess the impact of a new psychological therapy for chronic, or treatment-resistant, depression (Refractory Depression).

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

It is estimated that there are 2.9 million people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes1 and the incidence is increasing, as it is across the world, all the time. After many years with limited options for treatment, there is now a steady flow of new drugs being licensed for blood sugar reduction in Type 2 diabetes. But which to use for whom?

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Men and women who develop high blood pressure during middle age or who enter middle age with high blood pressure have about a 30% increased lifetime risk of heart attack or stroke compared to those who kept their blood pressure low.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Stroke patients with a history of stroke or diabetes who received clot-busting drugs post-stroke have achieved better outcomes than those who did not receive the drugs, researchers reported in the November 16 online issue of Neurology.

2012/03/16MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr. Riyaz Shah, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Kent Oncology Centre - The ASCO 2011 Annual Meeting took place in early June at the vast McCormick Place Convention Centre in Chicago. With 337 original peer reviewed abstracts relating to lung cancer, a full summary is beyond the scope of this update but I will attempt to highlight some key studies.

2012/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Researchers report that opioid-dependent patients treated with escitalopram achieved meaningful reductions in pain severity and pain interference during the first three months of therapy.

2012/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

2012/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

First study of its kind to focus on children. Crowding in hospital emergency departments has led to a decrease in the timely and effective use of pain medication in children suffering acute long bone fractures, according to a new study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

2012/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Patients with severe 2009 H1N1 influenza who developed respiratory failure and were treated with a system that adds oxygen to the patient's blood had a lower rate of in-hospital death than similar patients who did not receive this treatment,

2012/03/09MEDICAL UPDATE

by Bruce Sylvester - Computed tomography (CT) scanning for lung cancer of men who are current or former heavy smokers also identified a significant proportion with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - In 1838 E. S. Hare published work about tumours involving certain nerves.1 However, Henry Pancoast, a radiologist from Philadelphia described the classical clinical presentation of pain of the eighth cervical or the first and second thoracic trunk associated with classical Horner syndrome, atrophy of the hand muscle and rib destruction.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is of insidious onset and almost uniformly a fatal disease. Around 90% of the patients can be linked to asbestos exposure. The management outcome of MPM remains dismal.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Increased Met signalling in tumours can occur from increased levels of Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), activating mutations within Met, and/or receptor over expression with or without gene amplification. Binding of the Met ligand to its extracellular receptor results in Met activation leading to cell survival, migration and tumour growth.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Advanced non-small cell carcinoma of the lung represents one of the major unmet needs for an effective and prolonged survival outcome. The majority of these patients frequently present to the multi-disciplinary team at an advanced stage with little chance of radical management options and extremely poor prognosis.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - Since the publication of the iPASS trial data, gefitinib has become the treatment of choice in EGFR mutation positive tumours. However, almost all the patients included in this study were of Asian origin.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - At the recently held 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, on behalf of the investigators, the randomised phase III clinical trial results of BTOG 2 were presented by David Ferry.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - A platinum doublet remains the current gold standard in the management of EGFR mutation negative, advanced non-small cell lung cancers. Pemetrexed is the favourite agent for non-squamous histology whilst gemcitabine, vinorelbine or paclitaxel are commonly added to a platinum compound for treatment of patients with squamous cell histology.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

by Dr Sunil Upadhyay - The way we have defined cancer has not changed over centuries. Most of the lung cancers are associated with smoking. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that lung cancers in never smokers are a distinct pathology in terms of carcinogenesis, clinical characteristics, anatomical distribution, biology and prognosis.

2012/01/18MEDICAL UPDATE

Foreward by Dr Sanjay Popat (pictured). The 14th Annual Scientific Meeting of the IASLC has now closed. Held in Amsterdam at the beginning of July 2011, the annual convention into advances in thoracic oncology continues to grow.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Gender differences between donor and recipient might have an impact on outcome after heart transplantation (HTx). The literature review revealed controversial results. Ingo Kaczmarek and colleagues from Munich, Germany reviewed the data of the ISHLT registry focusing on the influence of gender differences on short- and long-term outcome after HTx.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Cristina Baleriola, from NSW, Australia presented data on the important factor of screening donors for infection. The expansion of the donor pool leads to utilisation of donors with risk factors for viral infections. The main element of donor screening relies on serological and nucleic acid testing (NAT).

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

The model for end stage liver disease (MELD score) is used in many countries to allocate liver grafts to the sickest patients on the waiting list. Several authors have reported unacceptable mortality in recipients with a MELD score ≥30. Therefore, a challenging task is to predict the outcome in high MELD recipients.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Nephrotoxicity as the Primary Driver of Failure – Fact or Fiction? - Dr Philip Halloran, Alberta Applied Genomics Center, Alberta, Canada. The calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs), ciclosporin and tacrolimus, are nephrotoxic drugs. CNIs have been known to be capable of causing end stage renal disease since the first ciclosporin experience in the late 1970s.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

Donor variables have a significant impact on the outcome of islet isolation. Importantly, young donor age has in the past been negatively associated with islet isolation yield. The aim of this study was to identify the outcomes of islet isolation from donors who were less than 20 years of age and to compare the results with donor population as a whole.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

The success of organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) has yet to extend into cardiac transplantation although it is felt that rescuing hearts from donors after cardiac death would allow significant expansion of the donor pool.

2012/01/12MEDICAL UPDATE

by Mr Nizam Mamode, Consultant Transplant Surgeon (pictured) - Children are not just small adults; an aphorism which paediatricians are fond of quoting, but one which perhaps has not yet reached the transplant community.

2019/05/09MEDICAL UPDATE

2019/05/08MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviewer: Hannah Chatfield, Article: Maria Dalby
Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) remains the standard of care option for those patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who are eligible for and able to tolerate it. However, consolidation and/or maintenance therapies are required to ensure maximum benefit of the initial therapy and to maintain disease control for as long as possible.

2019/05/01MEDICAL UPDATE

2019/04/09MEDICAL UPDATE

Translational research is playing an increasingly vital role for bridging the gap between, on the one hand, basic science and on the other, clinical studies and routine clinical practice. Among the findings presented in a digital oral presentation session at ECCO 2019 were new insights into the mechanism of action of vedolizumab and potential new therapeutic targets for treating fibrosis and strictures in IBD...

2019/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

Metabolic interactions between the gut microbiome and its human host are thought to play a key role in the development of IBD and may hold the key to finding new disease markers and targets for intervention.

2019/03/13MEDICAL UPDATE

The first-ever head-to-head comparative trial of two biological therapies in IBD indicates that UC patients treated with vedolizumab are significantly more likely to achieve remission than with adalimumab. More head-to-head trials are due to be completed shortly and the results are expected to be as important for clinical practice as the SONIC, CALM and NOR-SWITCH studies.

2019/03/11MEDICAL UPDATE

The sessions at ECCO 2019 were packed full of interesting data highlights and hot topics relevant to the treatment of IBD. In the video above, Professor Stefan Schreiber (Germany), Professor David Rubin (USA), Dr Filip Baert (Belgium) and Professor William Sandborn (USA) discuss their highlights from the meeting including the long-awaited head to head VARSITY study comparing adalimumab with vedolizumab and the maintenance data from the UNIFI study for ustekinumab.

2019/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby (article) and Esther Drain (interviews)
Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a heterogeneous group of lymphoid malignancies that often fails to respond to standard of care treatment,1-3 and the need for new therapies is therefore urgent...

2019/02/05MEDICAL UPDATE

by Tom Collins (author) and Hannah Chatfield (interview)
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common form of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas1 and although rarely curable, a number of treatment options exist. In an education session on current and emerging options for the treatment of FL, respectively, presentations focused on data supporting rituximab as single-agent or in combination with chemotherapy and as maintenance therapy in newly-diagnosed FL, and chemotherapy-free regimens and novel immunotherapy approaches in relapsed FL...

2019/02/01MEDICAL UPDATE

by Tom Collins (article) and Hannah Chatfield (interview)
The use of CAR T-cell therapy in lymphomas represents a very novel and fast-moving area of research with continuous preclinical and clinical advances...

2018/12/13MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/12/05MEDICAL UPDATE

As survival with frontline chemotherapy has steadily improved for patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma several studies have looked at how far short- and long-term toxicity can be reduced without loss of effect. Experts presented updates on three of the landmark studies …

2018/11/01MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviewer Esther Drain
Creative approaches that can be used to keep control of oligometastic disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer were discussed here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interview by Esther Drain
Talk of progress in cancer treatment can ring hollow if the new, life-lengthening therapies are not widely available, the president-elect of the European Society of Medical Oncology said here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interview by Esther Drain
Patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer taking durvalumab had significantly better overall survival than those on placebo after standard chemotherapy and radiation, according to the latest results of the phase III PACIFIC trial presented here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviews by Esther Drain
The ALK- and ROS1-inhibitor brigatinib showed a better progression-free survival (PFS) compared to the ALK-inhibitor crizotinib in the first interim analysis of a head-to-head trial in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who hadn’t yet received an ALK-inhibitor, researchers said here in the Plenary at the IASLC 19th World Congress on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

By Thomas R Collins / Interviewer Esther Drain
A randomised, controlled screening trial for lung cancer involving almost 16,000 people in the Netherlands and Belgium found that CT screening produced a 26% reduction in lung cancer deaths among at-risk men over 10 years, according to data presented here at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2018/10/17MEDICAL UPDATE

Interviewer: Esther Drain
The IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) was full of highlights, including 3 plenary abstracts being presented in the New England Journal of Medicine and involvement from patients and patient advocates. Watch the montage of comments from delegates to get an idea of the excitement generated here in Toronto.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby
Inflammatory bowel disease can have a detrimental impact of health-related quality of life, and reducing the physical and psychological disease burden is an important therapeutic target. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly captured in clinical trials and disease registers and can provide insight into the day-to-day impact of IBD on patients’ lives. PROs and quality of life measures can be captured in real time via online and mobile platforms, to improve disease control and quality of care.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Hannah Chatfield
To have a chance of preventing IBD clinicians need to be able to predict who is at risk, based on sensitive and selective risk factors. In a translational symposium at DDW 2018, speakers discussed the role of genetics, diet and environment in IBD aetiology.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

Interview by Hannah Chatfield
IBD specialists have more treatment options than ever before; yet the optimal use of many agents, old as well as new, remains to be defined. A plenary session at DDW 2018 entitled “It’s still a free country: choice in IBD management” aimed to highlight the wide choice available to clinicians and patients.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

By Maria Dalby
Perianal fistulas remain a debilitating complication for CD patients, with high levels of morbidity and impact on quality of life. Several abstracts and posters at DDW 2018 addressed the clinical management of perianal fistulas in CD.

2018/10/02MEDICAL UPDATE

2018/08/20MEDICAL UPDATE

Professor John Lafrate (Harvard Medical School, Boston) and Professor Frank Detterbeck (Yale School of Medicine, New Haven) spoke in a session looking at some of the difficulties with diagnosis and management of synchronous primary lung cancers, especially as there is little research or guidelines to guide best practice.